


Love Came In On Time

by knifelesbian



Series: A Dream That I Can Call My Own [2]
Category: Runaways (TV 2017)
Genre: Developing Relationship, F/M, by the way if youre looking for sap this is the place gertchase is So Sweet, in many different ways ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°), uh im just gonna state for the masses that the walls of the hostel are. very thick
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-21
Updated: 2018-03-21
Packaged: 2019-04-05 16:37:15
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 22,543
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14048391
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/knifelesbian/pseuds/knifelesbian
Summary: so i have no chill and wrote a part two to wcttwtg and it's. it's real sappy y'all





	Love Came In On Time

It's been about a month since Molly found their new home, which they've been lovingly calling 'The Hostel', and honestly, things are going great. Gert's arm is all healed up, the house is finally clean after days of intense scrubbing, they eat regular meals that are actually healthy every day.

 

Her one problem is that she hasn't had an orgasm since the night with Chase when they left, and, like, it's not a big deal, or anything, but also it's bordering on two months now and she is the most sexually frustrated she can ever recall being.

 

And it's not like she can go up to Chase and say 'hey, do you want to have sex with me,' because a) no matter what her friends will tell you, she is not that bold, and b) there's always the possibility that he could say no.

 

And Gert's not going to get mad at him for that! If he's not ready, he's not ready. And what's worse (literally only in this context, otherwise she fucking loves it) is they're sharing a room! And sleep in the same bed! So she can't just rub one out because he's _right there_. Well, she could. Perhaps.

 

"Hey, babe, what are you thinking about?" Chase asks, and she sucks in a breath. She thought she was alone.

 

"Nothing!" She tries to be calm, but it comes out as a squawk, and her fingers kind of dig into the fabric of the couch. Old Lace, who's sitting at her feet, flicks her tail as the surprise bolts through her.  She looks at him, and he's got an eyebrow raised and a confused smile on his face.

 

"Right, because that was convincing," he plops down next to her, wrapping an arm around Gert's waist and pulling her towards him. "What's going on?"

 

"Nothing, I swear." She pauses, looking up at him and worrying her bottom lip. "It's just......"

 

Fuck, who gave her boyfriend the right to be this handsome? He's looking at her with those big brown eyes of his- well, hazel, actually, it really depends on the lighting, but today they're a warm brown, and they're making her feel all melty. His lips are pink and kissable, no doubt from his lip balm theft habits, literally every time she buys a new one it finds its way into Chase's hands at some point or another, and he's wearing the soft t-shirt she bought him the last time they went to a thrift store, the blue fabric a little tight around his arms, just the way she likes it.

 

He raises his eyebrows again, waiting. "Nothing, it's just nothing. Sorry."

 

"That's weird," he says, pulling Gert onto his lap, "because it really seems like something." He circles his arms around her waist, and she leans into him, her hand going to the nape of his neck and absently playing with the hair there.

 

"It really isn't, Chase. Don't.........." she pauses as her eyes flick down to his lips. Fuck, he looks good today. "Don't worry about it."

 

He takes on a knowing look as his mouth curls into a smirk. "Oh, I see what this is about."

 

"Oh, and what do you think this is about?" Her voice turns a little breathy as his hand curls around her thigh, and he huffs out a laugh.

 

"Somebody wants to make o-ut," he singsongs, whispering into her ear, and she shivers. _Oh, I wanna do a lot more than that._

 

"Well, maybe," she admits, and he laughs into her shoulder. He starts kissing his way up her neck, stopping every so often to nip at her skin, making her hum in pleasure.

 

"Hey, we should," she pauses to let out a high pitched giggle as he sucks lightly below her ear, "we should head to our room before Alex or someone shows up and enforces the 'no making out in shared spaces' rule and I have to sleep with Molly for the next three nights." That rule barely works, anyways, because whoever it is that the rule gets enforced upon always ends up sneaking back to their regular room, but it's the thought that counts. Also, Alex doesn't sleep and Will catch her.

 

"Hmm, are you sure?" His voice is low and husky, and it's _doing_ things to her. His fingers start to trail little patterns on the inside of her thigh, and she shivers.

 

"Yeah, yeah, I'm sure." She gets up, telling Old Lace to go find Molly, then drags him by the hand down the hall and into their bedroom, pushing him up against the wall and kissing him dirty.

 

He makes a surprised noise at the intensity as he kisses her back, his hands going to her waist and pulling her closer and she throws her arms around his neck to be as pressed up against him as she can possibly be. His nose presses into her cheek as their mouths move against each other, and the wet slide of his lips against hers are exactly what she needs right now. He tastes kind of fruity, and she just knows it's because of the tropical flavoured Blistex that went missing from her nightstand last week, and if she wasn't so into this right now she'd probably call him out on it.

 

Chase's hands start to trail under her shirt, and she separates from him, just for a second, to tug it over her head and throw it across the room. He looks down at her breasts with a kind of awe in his eyes, running a hand over the strap of her bra and sending it down her shoulder. The contact makes her shiver, and she pulls him back in, slipping her tongue into his mouth. He walks her backwards, his hands trailing up her thighs and under her skirt, stopping just below where she wishes he'd buck up and just touch her. He picks her up easily, her legs crossing behind his back to keep her up, and that is still so hot, that he can just pick her up whenever.

 

This time, he presses her up against the wall, and she moans into his mouth. And then she has a thought.

 

_He could totally fuck me like this, couldn't he?_

 

It sets something off in the pit of her stomach, just the image of him thrusting deep inside her, and she kisses him harder, framing his face with her hands. His hands dig into her thighs, and fuck, she is so wet right now.

 

He does an experimental thrust against her center, and she keens, her fingers twisting into his shirt. He kisses down her neck as he starts up a slow, cautionary pace, and she is _just_ about to ask if he wants to have sex when he stops, dropping his forehead to her shoulder.

 

"We should probably,” his voice is hoarse, "we should probably stop now, um, before things get......................out of hand." _NOOOOOO._ He didn't even take his shirt off! This is so not fair.

 

But she doesn't want to push him farther than he's comfortable, so she sighs and nods. "Okay."

 

She tries not to sound too disappointed.

 

Dinner is kind of awkward, solely for the fact that she absolutely cannot pay attention, and _everyone_ can tell.

 

"Hey, Gert, I murdered someone last night."

 

 _Chase grinding against her, lips attached to her neck,_ "Sounds fun."

 

"Yeah, and now that I've got a taste for blood, I just can't stop murdering."

 

 _That night at the dance, Chase thrusting into her at a slow pace that felt oh so good_ , "Uh-huh, that's great."

 

"Guys, what'd we say about quoting Brooklyn Nine Nine at the table?"

 

"Wait, what are we talking about?" Chase's voice shakes her out of her daze, and the rest of the table bursts into giggles.

 

Chase puts his hand over hers and squeezes, then lets go. "Nothing, honey." God, even that sets her off.

 

Later, they're in bed together, Gert playing Sudoku and trying very, very hard not to think about how Chase never sleeps with a shirt on if he can get away with it, so he's currently got his arms wrapped around her as he reads over her shoulder, his bare chest pressing into her back.

 

"Hey, what's up with you today?" He asks softly. His fingers ghost up her side, and she shivers.

 

"N-nothing." _I really want to have sex with you but I don't know how to ask._

 

"Hmm, okay," he says into her skin, and her eyelids flutter as she feels his hot breath on her neck, "but it doesn't seem like nothing."

 

"Well, it is, so." She knows she sounds childish, but she really can't figure out a way to bring this up subtly.

 

"If you're sure, but just know that I'm here, okay?" He presses a soft kiss to her neck, and her eyes fall closed.

 

"Yeah, I know."

 

Chase falls asleep a while after, but she just cannot get to sleep. Her brain is too busy thinking about what it would be like to have Chase inside her again, making love to her on this bed.

 

She looks at the clock. 2:00 AM. Okay, it's late, Chase won't wake up, she could probably get away with this.

 

She slips her hand into her pants and starts rubbing at her clit, slow circles to get her started. After a while she slides a finger inside of herself shallowly, and is almost surprised by how wet she is. She starts moving her finger back and forth, and fuck, why did she stop doing this, again?

 

She gets caught up in a little fantasy that it's Chase doing this, curling a finger inside of her and rubbing at her clit at the same time, so caught up that she breathes his name by accident, _"Fuck, Chase."_

 

She should've known this was a bad idea, but it really comes back to bite her when Chase, of course, wakes up when he hears his name, asking, voice hoarse from sleep, "Yeah?"

 

She pulls her hands out of her pants lightning fast and turns on her side, curling in on herself and trying to get him to think she's asleep.

 

"Come on, babe, I know you're awake."

 

"Nope, I'm not, go back to sleep."

 

He laughs, the big jerk, and wraps an arm around her, asking quietly into her shoulder, "Why are you up, hmm? Is it your anxiety again?" God, this is the only time ever she wishes it was her anxiety, but nope, just her libido.

 

"No, I, um.........I was................" She can't finish the sentence, but Chase seems to catch on.

 

"Oh. You were.............." She lets out a squeak that could possibly be a yes, and nods. "Do you.............do you want me to help?" _FUCK YES._

 

She shifts in his arms and lies on her back again, his arm still across her stomach as he lies on his side. She looks up at him, and says breathily, "Yeah, Chase."

 

"O-okay. How do you......how do you want me to......."

 

She takes his hand and snakes it down her stomach slowly, stopping at her clit. Cautiously, he starts moving his fingers in slow circles, and she murmurs, "Yeah, just like that."

 

He moves his fingers down and dips one shallowly inside of her. Her legs fall open and she breathes, "Fuck, that feels good."

 

"Yeah?" He goes deeper, and she moans, which seems to be a good enough answer.

 

He starts moving inside of her at a glacial pace, getting a feel for it, and when he goes to slip a second finger inside of her, she's so wet that the stretch almost doesn't hurt. Almost.

 

She sucks in a breath, and he stops, asking, "What's wrong? Do you want me to-"

 

"No, keep- keep going, please, keep going, it's so good, Chase, don't stop," she's rambling, but it just feels so insanely amazing. Fuck, she should have asked him to do this ages ago. He starts moving his fingers inside of her, rubbing a little at her walls, and she's basically just panting now as he goes deeper. She slips a hand down to rub at her clit, and he starts thrusting his fingers inside of her, and she cries out as he picks up the pace a little, and it’s a bit rough and a lot amazing, and that's when she comes, moaning loudly and arching her back. Chase doesn't seem to get the memo, though, his fingers still moving inside her, so she puts her hand over his and says, "Okay, that's-that's good, you can-"

 

He pulls out slowly so it doesn't hurt, and says, "Yeah, sorry."

 

He watches as she catches her breath, then teases, "That good, huh?"

 

"Yeah, that good." Her voice is hoarse. "Hey, do you want me to blow you?" Best to be straightforward, right?

 

He chokes on air, and she laughs at his reaction. "No- no thanks, I'm um, I'm good." His face is so red she can see it in the dark.

 

She raises her eyebrows and asks, "Are you sure?"

 

"No, I mean _yes_ , I am sure. Thank you for the offer, though." He sounds like he's conducting a business deal, and to her 2:30 AM brain, it's funny, so she giggles.

 

"Okay, baby." She turns away from him to grab a package of wipes from the nightstand, because she really doesn't want to get up to wash her hands right now. She takes one out then passes the pack to Chase, who does the same, and they both start wiping at their hands. She catches his eye and lets out an embarrassed snort, and he does the same, and soon they're both just giggling.

 

She takes his from him and drops the dirty wipes in the garbage at her bedside, and he lies on his side, wrapping his arm around her.

 

"That's what's been bothering me all day, by the way."

 

"What, sexual frustration? That's it?" She hums, and he continues, "Jesus, from the way you were acting I thought you were like, going to break up with me, or something." He says it jokingly, but there's a worried edge to his tone.

 

"Chase, baby," she says, and she makes sure he's making eye contact when she says, "I would never, ever, do that." Maybe that's too ride-or-die, but it's past two AM, and practically the day they started dating she decided the only time Chase wouldn't be her boyfriend is when he's her fiancé, and then her husband. It's not going to happen for a long while yet, but she can still dream.

 

"Aw, come on, we both know you're only dating me for my body." He jokes, and they both burst into giggles.

 

When they've calmed down again, she says, "No, but seriously. You know you're the only one for me, right?"

 

He smiles bright, then shifts and kisses her softly. He pulls back only an inch, and she can feel his hot breath on her mouth when he says, "Me too, Gert. Don't know if I could stand it if we weren't together." She smiles and kisses him lazily, like they've got all the time in the world.

 

And they do.

 

They settle after a while, Chase pulling her closer and pressing his face into her shoulder. It's quiet, and she thinks he's gone to sleep when he whispers, "I love you."

 

_WAIT, WHAT?_

  
__________

 

So Chase loves her. The realization is a lot easier to deal with when she's alone, having left their room for the kitchen to make pancakes after she spent an hour staring at the ceiling mulling over what he said.

 

And, okay. It's not like she doesn't feel similar, but admitting it to herself is the hard part. Because, objectively, she knows Chase isn't going to suddenly decide he hates her and doesn't want to be with her anymore. But there's a small part of her that keeps saying, _'he's done it before, he'll do it again'._ And he did do it, so it's warranted, even if she's forgiven him, so there's still that niggling doubt in the back of her brain.

 

And to be honest, how can he possibly love Gert? Gert, with her pudgy body and dark circles, Gert, who talks too much, Gert, who sometimes lets her insecurities and worries overtake her so completely she forgets about everything else. How could he love _that?_

 

She swishes her pancake around the plate with her fork, not really paying attention to it. Sometimes, in her darkest moments, she thinks everything would be easier if none of this had ever happened. That they never found out about their parents, that they had just went on ignoring each other until they graduated.

 

But then she thinks about her family, her real one. She thinks about Karolina's kind attitude, Nico's dark humour, Alex's wit and perseverance, Molly's positivity.

 

And she thinks about Chase. Chase's gorgeous smile, the way he can always make her laugh, even when she thinks the world is ending, how smart he is, how he can talk forever about the projects he's working on, his weird habits, that look he gets in his eyes whenever he's happy, hell, even his morning person tendencies don't annoy her anymore.

 

She loves him back. Of course she does, how can she not? But how can she ever tell him if she's not even sure he meant it?

 

She looks at the clock. 5:00 AM. If she waits two hours, Karolina will be awake. If she waits three, so will Chase and Molly. Usually, Gert can make Chase stay in bed with her for at least another hour, but if she's not there what's stopping him?

 

Okay, you know who can help her with this? Karolina. She's in a loving relationship, her and Nico are _the best_ at communication, and Karolina has woken up Gert (and by extension Chase) to talk about _her_ issues before. Why shouldn't Gert get to do the same?

 

She leaves her plate abandoned on the counter and walks to Karolina and Nico's room, stepping quietly so as to not wake up Alex, who sleeps notoriously lightly.

 

She opens their door, cringing as it creaks, and steps inside, closing it slowly. She tiptoes to Karolina's side of the bed, shaking her shoulder and whispering, "Karolina, wake up!"

 

Karolina's eyes flutter open and she says groggily, "Huh? Gert, what's going on?"

 

"I need to talk to you."

 

"Go talk to your dumb boyfriend, Gert. We're trying to sleep here." Nico says crankily as she wakes up, and woah, does she sleep in her eyeshadow?

 

"No, it's _about_ the boyfriend, that's why I need to talk to you guys." Suddenly, they're both awake and alert, Karolina turning on the lamp as they sit on either side of her.

 

"Okay, that doesn't sound awesome, what's up?" Nico asks, voice soft. Karolina puts a hand on her back as Gert's mouth screws up and she crosses her arms.

 

"Chase told me he loved me, earlier. I don't think he knew I could hear him."

 

"But that's a good thing, isn't it?" Karolina says, rubbing her hand up and down Gert's back. She knows Karolina is trying to soothe her, but it isn't working.

 

"Well, I don't know!" She says, standing and starting to pace back and forth. "Like, sure, he said it, but how can I know for sure that he meant it? And that he'll keep meaning it? What if one day he wakes up and decides he doesn't even want to be with me anymore? And I want to say it back, because I love him, I love him so much, but there's no way he actually feels the same way, even if he said he does. I mean, look at me! I'm chubby and annoying and I talk too much and-"

 

"Oookay, pause!" Nico says, and both her and Karolina stand up.

 

"Babe, I think this is a code red." Karolina says, and Nico nods, leaving the room as Karolina pulls her into a hug, stroking her hair. Gert's eyes are watery, and she can tell it's getting Karolina's top wet.

 

Nico returns a minute later with her jumbo bag of Maltesers that she hides from the rest of them and they guide her to the bed. Nico hands her the bag and she reaches in, grabbing a few and stuffing them in her mouth. Gert leans heavily on Karolina as Nico starts talking.

 

"Okay, first of all, you are none of those things. You are wonderful and we love you. And furthermore, _Chase_ loves you. He said it, didn't he?"

 

"I mean, yeah, but he thought I was asleep!"

 

"So? He still said it! It doesn't matter if he thought you wouldn't hear him, if he said it, he meant it! That's usually what it means when someone says something, you dummy." Nico pokes her in the side, but Gert isn't convinced.

 

_"Usually."_

 

Nico scoffs. "Yeah, usually. But definitely when it's your boyfriend telling you he loves you, I mean, come on, it's Chase. If you weren't around he'd be a vegetable." She shifts uncomfortably, but she might be starting to believe her? Maybe?

 

"Do you really think so?"

 

"Of course, Gertie," Karolina says, rubbing her hand up and down her back again, and this time, she feels calm.

 

"Okay, so next time Chase says he loves you, what do you do?"

 

"I..........I say it back, and don't throw a shitfit." Karolina sighs at her word choice, loud and long.

 

"Gert. It is not a shitfit."

 

"Yeah, yeah, I shouldn't use that type of language when talking about my spiralling, I know." She looks to Karolina, then Nico, and says, "I really love you guys."

 

"Don't tell us that, tell your damn boyfriend!" Nico jokes, and the three of them burst into giggles.

 

"Okay, I'm," she pauses to yawn, "I'm kind of tired, I'm gonna go back to bed." She stands, and tells them, "Thanks, guys."

 

She goes back to her room, quietly climbing back into bed and wrapping an arm around Chase and curling up against him. She rests her head on his chest, and tries her best to clear her mind and think of nothing.

 

When she wakes up, it's to Chase trying as best he can to not wake her up as he gets back in bed, and her eyes flick to the clock. Eight AM.

 

"Babe?" she asks groggily. "Where'd you go?" She reaches out blindly, and he pulls her to his chest.

 

"Nowhere, don't worry. Just out of curiosity, though, how late were you up last night? Because there were some syrup soaked pancake remains sitting on the counter when I went to the kitchen this morning." She cringes. She really didn't mean to leave evidence.

 

"Not.........late.........?" Her voice sounds suspicious even to her, and she can tell he doesn't believe her.

 

"Was it........was it because of what happened last night?" He asks seriously. "We don't have to do that again if you don't want to."

 

"No!" she says quickly. "That was not it _at all_." She shifts and leans on her elbow so she can look him in the eye, gesturing concisely with her other hand as she talks. "It was something else entirely, and I talked to Karo and Nico about it so it's dealt with."

 

His eyebrows crease, and she realizes her mistake. "Why didn't you just talk to me about it?"

 

She presses her face back into his chest to avoid the question, mumbling, "I dunno."

 

"Gert, honey," she still loves when he calls her that, "come on, you can tell me." No, she can't, not really. But Chase makes her honest. Too honest, maybe. It's probably going to get her in trouble at some point.

 

"I heard you, last night." She says quietly, and Chase sucks in a breath. "When you said you........love me."

 

"Oh." That's all he has to say? Oh? "Wait, why did that keep you up?" They're facing each other on the bed, now, and his face is inches from hers. The light from the lamp he'd turned on at some point reflects in his eyes, and it's kind of making her melt.

 

"Because I'm me, and I kept thinking 'oh, of course he didn't actually mean it, oh, didn’t he hate you three months ago, oh-"

 

“Gert, I never hated you.” She screws her face up at him, and fuck, he looks so sad. “Gert, I’m serious, I never hated you. I’m sorry for being an idiot and making you think I did, but I……” he licks his lips, steeling himself. “I love you, okay?”

 

Just hearing him saying it again kind of shocks her into silence, and when she doesn’t say anything after a second, he starts to ramble. She’s rubbing off on him.

 

“You don’t have to say it back, or anything, you really don’t, but you’ve got to know, Gert, you've got to know that I love you. I love you _so much-”_

 

She cuts him off by pressing her lips to his, cupping his face in her hands as she kisses him softly.

 

She pulls back, hands still cupping his face, and says quietly, “I love you too, Chase.”

 

He’s got stars in his eyes as he asks, “Really?”

 

“Yes, really- _mph!_ ” He kisses her, wrapping an arm around her waist to keep her close. It starts slow, but escalates when Chase rolls on top of her, settling in between her legs. They stay like that for a while, kissing lazily, and Chase's hand slips under her shirt to draw little designs into her sides, making her shiver. She's just about to ask if 'hey, do you maybe want to have sex' when the door flies open.

 

"Hey, breakfast is- oh, you resolved everything, that's good. Uh, I'm gonna-" Nico says, leaving the room as quickly as she came, shutting the door behind her.

 

They look at each other and laugh, Chase's forehead dropping to her shoulder. She puts her hand to the nape of his neck, playing with his hair.

 

"We should probably start locking that door, huh?" He says into her skin, and she laughs, then hums in agreement.

 

"We should go get breakfast, now." He hasn't moved from where his face is pressed into her upper chest, and she has to force herself to not react as she feels his lips brush against her skin.

 

"But I don't wanna," she groans, "I wanna stay here with you."

 

"O-ka-y," he says, "but an hour from now when you have to eat knock off Cheerios because you didn't eat the hot meal with everyone else, you're not allowed to complain."

 

She screws up her face, so he pecks her on the lips and says, "Come on, honey."

 

Reluctantly, she lets him pull her out of bed, and they walk to the kitchen with Gert swinging their hands back and forth, Old Lace following behind them, having returned from her night in Molly's room.

 

Later, Molly decides that they HAVE to watch a movie. They HAVE to. (Coincidentally, Molly bought a copy of The Sisterhood Of The Traveling Pants movie a while ago, and hasn't yet gotten a chance to watch it).

 

Gert sprawls across Chase's lap as the movie starts, and he immediately starts playing with her hair. She's noticed, since they started dating, that Chase definitely has a thing for her hair. If he can be touching it, he will be.

 

"Oh, I love this part," she says as Lena arrives in Greece. Any film with scenes set in Greece always look so pretty, rich blues and pure whites and people wearing handmade, flowy clothing. It looks so peaceful. She'd love to go one day.

 

"Gert, don't talk!" Molly says. She's like annoyingly religious about movie watching.

 

"Yeah, yeah," she reaches over to ruffle Molly's hair, but her hand gets batted away.

 

"Hey, after this you've got to work on that homework I set up, okay?"

 

"Geeeeerrrrrt," Molly groans, then sighs. "Ugh, fine."

 

Gert has been trying her level best to give Molly some sort of education, basing her 'curriculum' off textbooks she picks up at the thrift stores they go to. Some of them are really interesting, actually, so when she can't sleep Gert reads through them. Sometimes she reads out loud to Chase, if he can't get to sleep, especially the history textbooks. According to Chase, history is 'a snoozer'.

 

After the movie, she gets started on dinner. She roots around in the cupboards, finding the ramen and a can of variety veggies. She's been trying her best to incorporate something kind of healthy in every meal, if she can. The fridge is starting to get emptier and emptier, from need of a supply run or just because they don't have the cash for more, and she worries what they'll do if they run out of money. They do their best to keep things cheap, but every once in a while they'll splurge on something quality, and the guilt will creep up on her.

 

She empties a few packets of ramen into the pot along with the veggies, lighting the burner with a match to get it started. Their stove is notoriously finicky, and the burners are open flame, so using  a match is just easier.

 

Chase comes in, trying to be quiet but not succeeding. He always wears his boots around the house to make himself feel taller, and she'd recognize the _thunk thunk thunk_ sound they make anywhere.

 

He's right behind her when she says, "Hey, baby."

 

"Aw, man! I totally thought I got you that time." He wraps his arms around her waist and rests his chin on her shoulder.

 

"Nope! I am unscareable."

 

"Now, that sounds like a challenge."

 

"Nuh-uh, do not even go there, if you turn this into a prank war you _will_ lose." The ramen starts to break apart, and she pokes at it with her fork.

 

"I don't think I will."

 

"Hmmm, let's not find out, though."

 

He laughs, and it's the best sound in the world.

 

~~~~~

 

Chase can't sleep.

 

He could just get up and walk the halls until he gets tired like he usually does when sleep escapes him, but Gert is half on top of him, and he doesn't want to wake her up.

 

He thinks about a few days ago, how she told him she loved him, and it's still makes his heart feel so warm. He doesn't think anyone's really told him that in a long while. His mother had never been one for affection and his father- well, his father probably doesn't even know what affection means. But Gert, Gert is so tactile, and it's rare even an hour goes by without her calling him 'baby'.

 

God, he's so fucking in love with her. He's glad she knows, now, and he's even happier she loves him back. Really, he would've been totally fine if Gert hadn't said it back, but she did! And now, a week later, he still feels ecstatic.

 

"Baby?" Oh no, did he wake her up? "Why are you awake?" Her voice is groggy, and the last syllable turns into a yawn.

 

"Can't sleep."

 

"Bad dream?" She hasn't moved, her head still resting on his chest, and he starts stroking her hair.

 

"Nah, I just feel like I can't settle, or something. You ever feel that way?" She hums, curling closer to him.

 

"Sometimes. I get what you mean, though. Can't get comfortable or make your brain stop, right?" He nods, then realizes she probably can't see that.

 

"Yeah."

 

"Do you want me to stay up with you? We can just talk, or something. Not too loud, though, um, my head kind of hurts."

 

"Oh? Do you want an Advil?" He knows she'll say no, because she always says to save the Advil for when they really need it, not for her  headaches, which Chase sees as a time when she really needs it, because she's in pain, right? So they should fix that? But Gert never agrees, and he doesn't like fighting with her when she's in pain, it makes him feel guilty. Fighting with her at all makes him feel guilty, actually, even if he's in the right. It's a good thing they rarely fight. Argue, yes, but they don't often have blowouts.

 

"No, no, it's fine. It'll be gone by morning." It won't be, but she'll lie about it until she needs to lie down for a while, claiming a stomach bug or something similar. Sometimes Chase just wishes she'd let him take care of her.

 

He sighs. "If you're sure, sweetheart." He doesn't often call her that, preferring to save it for when she's sad or sick or it's too late at night for her to tease him for being sappy. She likes 'honey', because it's relatively casual, same with 'babe', but there are some pet names she'll lovingly make fun of him for, even if he can tell she's only doing it so he doesn't notice how deep her blush is.

 

"Do you ever think about what you'll do if we get out of this?" She asks quietly.

 

"When. _When_ we get out of this." Gert is too logical about things, sometimes, and kind of a pessimist. She wants to lead a normal life after this, she's told him, but that doesn't mean she'll rely on that future. It kind of hurt when she told him that, because his mind had flipped to _you don't rely on a future with me?_ But she'd been quick to reassure him that 'in any future of mine, you're there. You're _always_ there, Chase'. She'd held his face in her hands as she said it, eyes serious and intense, the deep brown sucking him in until all he could do was stare.

 

"Yeah, when, okay. Do you ever think about what you'll do _when_ we get out of this?"

 

"I'm gonna take you on a date." He's got it all planned out. Well, actually, he's got basically a catalogue of different dates he would take her on. Movie dates, dinner dates, museum dates, park dates, carnival dates, theme park dates, practically a lifetime full of plans. But the first date, that one? He's got that planned down to the kiss goodnight.

 

"Really?" She says, voice soft.

 

"Yeah, Gert, really. And don’t tell me dates are, like, homogenized or whatever, I’ve put too much thought into this.” He’s not expecting her to laugh, but she does, like he’s just said the funniest thing in the world.

 

“Babe, babe,” she says, catching her breath, “homogenized is a type of milk.” Ohhh. Huh. 

 

“Whoops.” 

 

Gert giggles again, then settles. “So where would you take me on this date of yours?”

 

She starts drawing little designs into his chest, and he hums. “Roller skating. You know, that place we used to go as kids?”

 

“I can’t believe you remember that. I used to love that place.”

 

“I know, that’s why I wanna take you.” She giggles, and he twirls a piece of her hair around his finger. “And then we’d go to that pizza place you like and like, share a milkshake or some other cutesy couple shit. And then I'd take you on a walk through the park, you know, the one downtown that always has lanterns hanging from the trees? And it'd probably get cold, so I'd give you my coat," she snorts, "And you'd look beautiful, like always, and when I tell you that, you, like always, would get super flustered and it'd be really cute."

 

"I don't get flustered!"

 

"Then how come you're blushing right now?" Silence. He's caught her.

 

"Yeah, well, um," she blusters, and he laughs softly. She blows out a breath, then says quietly, "that sounds really nice, Chase. I'd love it."

 

God, he can't stop smiling. "What about you, hm? What will you do?"

 

"I'm gonna go to college, and drag you with me so you don't waste that big brain of yours."

 

"I'm not _that_ smart."

 

"Who's the one here with the 173 IQ? Is it you? Because I think it's you." He doesn't respond, because she's got him.

 

He yawns, and she asks, "Do you think you can go to sleep now?"

 

"Yeah, I'm," he pauses to yawn, "Aw, jeez, I'm tired."  
  
"Goodnight, then."  
 

"Goodnight, love you." everything starts to fade into darkness, and he sleeps easy.

 

Until he has The Dream. He's been having The Dream since he started dating Gert, not every night, or anything, but often enough that he's labeled it.

 

It starts with Gert sitting in his lap with her top off. They're making out, heavily, and she's rutting against him and making those little noises he loves so much. He undoes her bra one handed, then runs his hands over breasts, and she moans into his mouth. Her hands slither down his chest and into his pants, undoing the button and pulling him out.

 

And then she starts _laughing._ And while usually he loves her laugh, this is an awful, mocking sound that grates at his ears. It doesn't sound like her, and he's pretty sure his brain conjured it up from the depths of hell just to taunt him.

 

He knows that this dream is, probably, not logical, and that Gert isn't going to laugh in his face when they eventually have sex, but it still makes him wary of the idea. It's not that he doesn't want to have sex with her, because he does, God, he does. He's just worried it won't go well, and then it'll never happen again, and then.................

 

Sometimes, he worries that Gert's going to wake up one day and decide, suddenly, that she doesn't want to be with him anymore. He's terrified of that happening, which is probably why his brain focuses on it so much.

 

Bu then he thinks about how quick she is to reassure him whenever he's talked to her about it. How vehement she is that 'I am not leaving you, I'm here, I'm staying as long as you'll have me'.

 

And he'll have her forever, if he can.

 

~~~~~

 

Gert wakes up feeling like she's dying. Her stomach's in knots, her back feels like it got stomped on by construction workers, and her head is filled with cotton.

 

She'd had it marked on her calendar that she'd be starting her period soon, so she's already wearing a pad, so that's one thing she doesn't have to worry about. Everything else, on the other hand........

 

She hears Chase getting ready for the day, changing out of his pyjamas and styling his hair and pulling on his 'indoor boots' that he keeps spotless because Gert doesn't want dirt on her nice clean floors.

 

"Hey, are you feeling-"

 

"Shhhhhhhhh, shhhhhh, shhhhh." She blindly waves an arm to get him to stop talking so loud, and Old Lace lifts her head at the foot o the bed to see what all the commotion is. Apparently, there's no threat, because she settles again, clearly falling back to sleep.

 

"Oh, you've got a headache." He crouches in front of her, reaching to rub his hand up and down her side over the blanket. "Do you want an Advil?"

 

"Yeah, please." Her voice cracks, and she burrows deeper into the blankets. "Would you get me a heating pad or something, too? If you ask Karolina, she'll find one for you," the last few words gets swallowed in a yawn, and Chase takes her hand and squeezes it.

 

"Yeah, sweetheart, of course." His voice is soft. "Do you think you can eat anything?" His hand is back to rubbing up and down her side, and it feels so nice.

 

"Um, maybe something plain, I guess. My stomach's like, completely in knots." She hates when her period is like this. It isn't usually, but every once in a while, and especially on the first day, it'll hit her like a truck.

 

"Okay, sweetheart. I'll be back in a bit, okay?" She nods, and he runs a hand over her hair. He stands, turning off the light when he leaves, and Gert quickly falls asleep.

 

She wakes up again to Chase gently shaking her shoulder, saying, "Hey, Gert, wake up."

 

She rolls on her back to face him, opening her eyes and seeing a blurry lump that is vaguely Chase shaped. Oh, right, her glasses. She grabs them off the nightstand and pushes them on.

 

Oh, damn, he's got a little tray and everything, that is so cute. She wonders where he got it.

 

"Hey, beautiful, how you feeling?" He's sitting on the side of the bed, the tray in his lap, moving a hand up and down her arm slowly.

 

She groans. "Like crap on a stick." He huffs a laugh, and she sits up to take the tray from him, making grabby hands. He hands it to her, and she takes the Advil first, unscrewing the bottle and fishing out a pill, popping it in her mouth with a sip of water.

 

Gert pats the bed beside her and says, "Come sit with me, I wanna cuddle."

 

He smiles warmly and comes to sit beside her, and she leans against him. He wraps his arm around her waist, pressing a kiss to her forehead.

 

"So, I'm really sorry, but Karo says that we don't have any heating pads. Good news, though, we're doing a food run today, so I'll make sure they get one." She screws up her face. Damn, she really thought they had one.

 

She takes a bite of oatmeal- not too hot, with a sprinkle of cinnamon, just the way she likes it. She moans happily, leaning back.

 

"You, sir, are an angel. So who's going today?"

 

"Nico, Alex- yeah, I know, I know, I couldn't stop them, and Molly really wants to go, but she promised she'd stay in the van the whole time so..............I don't know if we should let her or not. Thoughts?"

 

She hums. Nico and Alex are doing.......................better, not great, but better, and he's right, once they've set their minds on something there's no stopping them. Molly, though, she's torn. Although, it would be good for her to get out of the house for a bit.

 

"I think it'll be fine as long as she stays in the van, a bit of fresh air would be good for her."

 

They stay for a while, quietly chatting as her medicine kicks in, and it's nice. Really nice, actually. So nice she accidently falls asleep.

 

Chase must have wanted to let her nap unhindered, because when she wakes up a good few hours later he's gone. Most likely gone to work on the washing machine he and Alex have been building out of spare parts so they don't have to do it by hand anymore, so Gert reluctantly gets up to find him.

 

She rubs at her stomach as she walks, heading to the bathroom first to change her pad.

 

She opens the door, and immediately yells, "WHAT THE FUCK?"

 

There is a _claw foot bathtub_ in her bathroom, and Gert is.........so confused.

 

The whole gang comes running at her shriek, and when Molly gets there first and sees what she's reacting to, she laughs.

 

"Oh, yeah, we found this thing on somebody's curb and stole it, how great, huh?"

 

She spies the garbage can, overflowing with sanitary wipes clearly used to clean this thing, and sighs. "Guys. We have good cleaning supplies, you should use them. Everyone out unless you're willing to help me clean."

 

"You sure you're feeling up to it, Sleeping Beauty?" Alex asks, lifting an eyebrow.

 

"Oh, good, Alex just volunteered himself, thank you!" She pats him on the shoulder, and he groans.

 

"Fine, I walked into that one."

 

"Kay, you can clean it in a bit, I actually need to use the bathroom, so, shoo," she makes hand motions at all of them, then shuts the door.

 

Once she finishes, Alex gets started on the tub with Gert metaphorically looking over his shoulder from where she sits on the counter.

 

"So what did you get on the supply run, other than this fucking Victorian era bathtub?"

 

"Oh, you know, just the usual stuff. The fridge is full again, so that's nice." Oh, thank fuck, that makes her feel so much better.

 

"Oh, good, that was literally keeping me up at night, glad it's dealt with." She swings her legs, trying to get the achey feeling out of her bones.

 

Alex wipes at one last spot, then says proudly, "Okay! What do we think?"

 

She hops off the counter and leans over the tub to get a good look, putting a hand on his shoulder from where he's kneeling on the floor to keep herself steady. "Hmmm, honestly? Surprisingly good job, dude."

 

"I'm glad you have such faith in my abilities."

 

"Alex, our freshmen year you wore the same t-shirt to school for a month for absolutely no reason, and all you drank that year was Caprisuns, I think my doubts are warranted."  
 

"Okay, that's fair."  
 

That night, she starts the slightly complicated process of filling up the tub, which involves spraying hot water from the shower into buckets and pouring it in, having cheap soap at the bottom so it makes bubbles.

 

She ties her hair, strips, and steps in, flinching a little at how hot the water is, but it's fine. She lowers herself into the water, and she can already feel her muscles relaxing as she settles. She plays idly with the bubbles, giggling as she gives herself a big white Santa beard and plops them on her hair.

 

This whole day she's been strung out, tired, and in pain, but now she just feels relaxed and unworried about anything. It's a rare feeling, so she tries to bask in it as long as she can.

 

After a while, she hears a knock on the door and Chase asking, "Hey, Gert? Can I come in, I need to ask you something."

 

"Sure, love. Take off your shoes, though." Oh, she likes that. Definitely gonna be calling him that more. (Probably only when she's feeling particularly sappy, though. No need to be extreme).

 

He opens the door and steps in, stuttering out a, "H-hey."

 

She wipes the bubbles off her face and out of her hair, then raises her eyebrows at him when he doesn't say anything for a few seconds, just stares. "...........What's up?"

 

"Honestly? I forget. Sorry." He fidgets, and he's still just _staring_. "I, um, I can leave."

 

"No, it's okay. C'mere," She lazily stretches her arm in his direction, pulling her knees to her chest as she does so. He kneels in front of the tub with a cautious air and his fingers tap against the edge of the tub.

 

She scoops up some bubbles and unceremoniously plops them in his hair to get him to relax, and his shoulders go up to his ears as his face screws up. She laughs, throwing her head back, and he says, "Oh, you're _so_ on."

 

He scoops up a pile of bubbles and smushes it into her hair, and she squeals, dipping her fingers in the water and flicking it at him. He does the same, and the water flecks her glasses, and she screws up her face, then splashes in his general direction. He laughs, then gets off his knees, still crouching, so she doesn't do it again.

 

She takes his hand and squeezes, still kind of laughing, and he leans down to press his mouth against hers. It's a messy kiss, solely because they're both still giggling, and she cups his cheek with her hand softly.

 

Chase plants a hand on the opposite edge of the tub so he can get a better angle, and it turns soft and slow, and so, so, good-

 

Until Chase's hand slips and he falls headfirst into the tub.

 

His eyes go wide as it happens, and he cracks his head on her knee, and in trying to not fall entirely into the tub he does just that. She has to fight the urge to laugh as she helps him sit up so he can actually breath, and asks, "Fuck, are you okay?"

 

Chase cracks up. He throws his head back and laughs, and it's the most she's seen him happy like this in a long time. It's not that Chase is bad at showing his emotions, because he isn't, not really, he's just a little bit.......subdued sometimes. So to see him laugh like this, all carefree and happy, it's really nice.

 

"No, yeah, I'm," he pauses to catch his breath, "I'm fine. Thank you, though." He settles, rolling his shoulders a bit, and says, "I see why you like this. It's nice."

 

She doesn't mention how absurd it is to her that he's just now decided to stay in the tub with her, completely clothed.

 

And then he's back to it. The staring. He's trying to be more subtle this time, but it isn't working, because Gert totally notices.

 

She rests her chin on her knees and says, "You're doing it again."

 

"What?" he leans in, and his face is only inches from hers.

 

"Staring." He huffs a laugh.

 

"Oh, am I?" she nods against her kneecap. "That's weird. Could it, possibly, have anything to do with my super hot girlfriend completely naked just inches from me? Hmmm, jury's still out."

 

She laughs softly. "Super hot, huh?"

 

"Ridiculously hot. The most attractive person I've ever seen in my entire life, actually."

 

She leans forward and kisses him so she doesn't notice how red her face is, and it's way more intense this time. She licks into his mouth, and he moans. His hand goes to her neck, and hers make their way to his sides to slip under his shirt. He pulls away for a second to tug it off, then comes back to her, the water splashing as they change positions for him to settle between her legs. His hand travels carefully up her side, then over breast, flicking at her nipple. She whimpers, and the feeling of it sets something off in the pit of her stomach, making her want more.

 

The water splashes a little as they make out, and she kind of wishes they were on a bed right now, but whatever, she'll make do.

 

He starts kissing down her neck, and her hand goes to his hair, and he says against her clavicle, "You taste like soap."

 

She laughs, saying, "Yeah, probably." She hums as he starts sucking a hickey there, and her fingers tighten in his hair.

 

His hand travels through the water and up her thigh, squeezing a little, and she lets out a small moan.

 

"We should probably not be doing this in the bath, huh?" Sigh. Why is Chase always the one who says 'stop' first?

 

"Yeah, I guess. Question, though, are you just going to walk back to our room completely soaked? Because you sure as hell don't have a change of clothes in here."

 

His eyes go wide and he makes an 'I dunno' sound, and she shakes her head a little. "I'm convinced you're a bundle of poor planning skills disguised as a very hot man. Okay, move, I'll get out and change and bring you something."

 

Chase presses a kiss to her cheek and moves back, the water swishing as he pulls his knees up so she can get out.

 

Gert stands and steps out, grabbing a towel off the hook. She doesn't even have to turn around to know he's back at making googly eyes at her.

 

She wraps the towel around herself and tucks it, then turns around. "You're staring again."

 

"Yeah, I know. Sorry."

 

"You don't sound very sorry." She leans down to peck him on the lips, then says, "I'll be right back, 'kay?"

 

She heads to their room and changes into her favourite pair of pyjamas, then grabs a shirt and pyjama pants for Chase.

 

She cracks open the door and tosses them in, saying, "Here you go!"  
  
"Thanks!"

 

Gert heads back to their room and lies down, grabbing a book and flipping through it. Old Lace returns from Molly's room to lie at the foot of the bed, and Chase comes back a minute later, flopping down next to her and wrapping an arm around her waist as he presses his cheek into her upper arm.

 

"What are we reading?"

 

"It's about the Roman Empire, you'd hate it."

 

"Okay, that's fair," he's still got bubbles in his hair, and it's adorable, "the only thing I know about the Roman Empire is that the Caesar salad guy got stabbed in March."

 

She laughs, and he presses a kiss to her shoulder.

 

"Hey, I've got a question for you," he says after a while.

 

"Shoot."

 

"How can you be so, like, normal about me seeing you............" Oh.

 

"Naked? You seeing me naked?" She teases, and he laughs into her shoulder.

 

"Yeah, that."

 

"I dunno," she says, "I guess I just trust you. And it's nothing you haven't seen before, so.........." Chase is looking at her all soft and fond, and she asks, voice coming out softer than she'd planned, "What is it?"

 

"Nothing, I just...............I just love you a lot."

 

"Oh. I, um, I love you too. A lot. Sorry, it's kind of, um, new to me, saying it out loud-" Gert goes to tuck her hair behind her ear, but he catches her hand, squeezing it.

 

"It's okay, I understand. Do you how many times since we got together _I_ wanted to tell _you?"_ They're only inches away from each other, so close she's getting a front row view to that beautiful hazel colour of his eyes.

 

"How many times?" The words slip out, soft and unsure.

 

"Oh, hundreds. Thousands. Every second of every day since I realized."

 

Gert leans in and kisses him softly, trying to pour every facet of how that made her feel with the press of her lips against his. She cups his face in her hands like he's something special, something worth protecting, and he is, he so is. Everything about Chase is something she wants to hold on to, keep safe, protect with her whole being, and maybe that's just her nature, to watch over everyone else, but it's different, with Chase. She'd go to the end of the earth, for him.

 

~~~~~

 

Gert isn't paying attention to him.

 

They're in bed together, and Gert has been reading about fucking _Claude Monet_ for the past half hour, and she isn't paying attention to him. No matter what he does (making silly faces, poking at her, messing with her ball of yarn that she always insists needs to be kept perfectly wound) he can't get a reaction out of her, and it's annoying.

 

Oh, wait, lightbulb.

 

He slides his hand over her stomach and starts pressing kisses to her neck, and she giggles. She puts a hand over his and starts fiddling with his fingers, and the book gets put down. Success!

 

Chase slips his hand under her shirt and ghosts his fingers up her side, and she reacts the same way she always does to that, letting out  a breathy moan. He continues on like that for a while, until Gert apparently reaches her breaking point and turns to kiss him full on.

 

She wraps her arms around his neck to pull him closer, and his hands go under her shirt and slide up her back. Lips still moving against his, she climbs into his lap until she's _straddling_ him, holy shit. His hands slide slowly down to her ass, squeezing a little, and when she moans into his mouth all Chase can think is that he's going to invent a time machine solely to go back in time and personally thank the inventor of tiny little pyjama shorts.

 

She slips her tongue into his mouth, and he moans into the kiss, squeezing harder, and she makes a little whimpering sound that he's going to be phantom-hearing for weeks, high and needy and perfect. She pulls back a bit to tug off her shirt, and for a few seconds Chase just stares. For the record, Gert probably has the best breasts ever (though he might be a little biased).

 

She comes back to him, and he cautiously runs his thumb over her nipple as they kiss, causing her to moan again, and seriously, who gave her the right to be this hot and sound that good? It's unfair, really.

 

She pushes him gently back onto the bed, kissing down his neck, and, okay, he's not even going to fight the boner this time because holy motherfucking shit is that amazing.

 

Gert starts kissing down his bare chest, and he's too sucked into the feeling of it until she's at the waistband of his pants and slipping her fingers under it. In a panic, he curls his hand under her arm and pulls her back up to kiss her again, and she makes a surprised noise, but melts into it. Okay, that was probably not the best reaction, but whatever, Gert doesn't seem too bothered.

 

They stay like that for a while, just making out, until Gert grinds against him experimentally and his fingers dig into her hips as he moans. She does it again, starting up a slow rhythm, making Chase feel like he's probably going to come in his pants like a thirteen year old any second now.

 

He rolls over on top of her so that doesn't happen, but it doesn't really work because now all he's thinking is _what if I had sex with her like this_ , which is like, the last thing he wants to be thinking right now because then he might actually _suggest_ it. The bad part of his brain unplagued by insecurities tells him that that wouldn't be such a bad idea, but bigger, stronger, louder part of his brain starts playing The Dream on rerun and suddenly he can't even fathom asking.

 

She giggles into his mouth as he does it, pulling away for a second to say, _"Somebody_ doesn't like me being in charge."

 

 _"Not_ what that was."

 

"Mmhmm- _fuck."_  He ruts against her, and her fingers curl into the hair at the nape of his neck.

 

He does it again, kissing up her neck and starting up a pace that's less orgasm inducing, until Gert breathes, "You should- you should eat me out."

 

He pulls back in surprise, and asks, kind of stupidly, "You'd like that?"

 

"Did I not just ask?" Gert says, and he laughs a little. "And yes, I would like that."

 

"Oh. Well, um, aren't you still on your period?" It's only been one day past a week since she started, right?

 

"First of all, take a sex ed class, periods don't last that long. Second of all, you don't have to if you don't want to, I was just.........suggesting."

 

"No, no, I.....I want to." God, does he want to.

 

~~~~~

 

"Are you sure?" When she first asked, he hadn't seemed it, but now he's got this look in his eyes that says that he is definitely, definitely into the idea.

 

"Uh-huh, yep, yes," he says, and his eyes are really, really dilated. She laughs a little at his enthusiasm, but it turns into a small moan as he starts kissing down her neck.

 

He makes his way down her body, stopping at her breasts to run his tongue over her nipple, and she sucks in a breath. He moves down more, pressing kisses to her stomach until he reaches her waistband, and he tugs at it, asking, "Can I......................."

 

She nods and says, "Yeah, yeah," probably too breathily, lifting her hips so he can carefully slide her shorts and panties down her legs, and she kicks them off.

 

For a second he just stares, eyes wide, and she thinks he's going to say something as he smoothes a hand over her thigh, but he stays quiet. And then he starts pressing kisses to her thighs.

 

He makes his way up the inside of her thighs, feather light until he decides that, actually, this is exactly where he wants his girlfriend to have a hickey in the morning, and starts sucking at the skin there. She sucks in a breath, and her hands curl into the sheets.

 

He keeps that up for a while, teasing around where Gert wants him, and she's just about to tell him to get on with it when he puts his mouth on her.

 

"Fuck, Chase," he starts sucking on her clit, and holy fuck nothing has ever felt so good. He moves lower, delving his tongue inside of her, then moving up again to lick short stripes over her clit, and she knows she's being loud, panting and moaning his name, but she doesn't care. Fuck, how the hell is he so good at this?

 

Her legs go over his shoulders at some point, and he moans against her, sending vibrations through her body and making her shiver. He dips his tongue inside of her again, exploring, and her toes curl. She's pretty much on the edge, and when Chase runs his tongue heavy over her clit she's there, and practically all she can do is breath his name as her hands tighten in his hair.

 

He seems to understand that if he keeps going she's going to literally combust from overload, so he pulls off her, pressing soft kisses to her thighs, then making his way back up her body, stopping at her tattoo and running his tongue over it. He makes his way back up slowly, solely because he keeps stopping to press kisses into her skin, which turns into sucking hickies there, and damn, Gert is going to be totally marked up tomorrow, isn't she?

 

When they're finally face to face again, all Gert can do is smile. "So that was fun." Her voice is hoarse and breathy, but she doesn't care.

 

He laughs softly, "Yes, indeed it was." He's started to sound like her more and more since they got together, but Gert can't say she minds.

 

"Do you want me to..........." She has a feeling he's going to say no, based on his reaction to her trying earlier, but she's still going to ask. Gert feels like she should've had the presence of mind to ask if that's what he wanted before making that kind of move, and she feels kind of bad about it.

 

"No, no, I'm, uh, I'm good." He says predictably, even though she knows he absolutely has a boner right now. He's still above her, and Gert reaches up to fiddle with his hair. He needs a haircut, but it's still fun to run her fingers through.

 

"Hey, I'm sorry, about earlier, if I made you uncomfortable, or something."

 

"No, don't be sorry. That is something I, um, want you to do," his face is really red, and she doesn't think it's from what just happened between them, "just, um, just not tonight."

 

"If you say so," she says, and leans up to kiss his cheek. He laughs, though she's not sure at what, then lowers himself fully on top of her to start pecking at her neck. It's nice for a second, but Chase is, like, considerably heavier than her and she's kind of scared he's going to break her ribs.

 

"Chase, dude, you're crushing me. Readjust."

 

He laughs again, seriously, what is so funny, and rolls off her. Okay, good, she can breathe again.

 

Gert looks over at him, and he's still smiling, and suddenly so is she, brighter than her lazy, 'I just got eaten out and now I'm fucking floating' smile from before. He looks back, and suddenly they're both giggling, at what Gert doesn't know, but it's nice.

 

She rolls on her side and wraps a lazy arm around his waist, resting her head on his chest. He presses a kiss to the top of her head and says, "You're right, that was fun."

 

~~~~~

 

Gert, it seems, is in a very multitasking mood. Currently, she is doing up a mock lesson plan for Molly, watching a movie, and has her hand in his hair where his head is in her lap. She's also doing her best to make sure Old Lace, who lies in front of the couch, stays asleep. Chase, for one, is actually mostly paying attention to the movie. It's The Princess Bride, how could he not? Although, he is a little distracted from Buttercup and Wesley by the way Gert is carding her fingers through his hair absently, like she doesn't know that this is the most calm he's felt in ages. Although, Gert does tend to have that effect on him.

 

He presses a kiss to her jean clad thigh, not starting anything, even if there is a hickey from last night a few inches away from there. Chase just wants her to know he's here. She hums, smoothing her hand over his hair, but doesn't really acknowledge him more than that. And that's fine, really. He's fine with quiet. They've got years and years coming that will be full of conversation.

 

And there it is again. That deep, all encompassing feeling inside that one day, he's going to marry Gert. Sometimes he pictures the wedding- a tiny backyard ceremony, with one of their friends ordaining, and afterwards they all go to some 24 hour diner and spend the whole night there, talking and laughing and dancing to the jukebox. It'd be small, but it's exactly the kind of thing they'd both love, and all Chase would really care about is the rings on their fingers, anyways. Gert would look absolutely radiant as always, probably wearing something simple and 'not white, white wedding gowns are too traditional and perpetuate patriarchal stereotypes'- a soft grey, maybe, or blue. Gert looks really good in blue.

 

Sometimes, the dark times, he thinks of what his father would think of Gert. Out of all his childhood friends, Gert had always been Victor's least favourite. _Too brash,_ he'd say, _too loud, too passionate, too impulsive._ Chase had always believed that those were the things that made her great, but he never dared say it. The one time he tried he got a concussion for his troubles. When Chase is really feeling like he's the worst person in the world with no redeemable qualities, that's what he thinks of. That his father wouldn't approve of the girl Chase has fallen in love with. And he shouldn't care about that, and he doesn't, because his father is an abusive piece of shit. But he's an abusive piece of shit that can worm his way into Chase's brain, so, so easily. Annoyingly easily.

 

But Chase can't let himself focus on that, especially since he knows that his father is wrong about a lot of things, especially about Gert not being the most fantastic person to ever live. She's vibrant, and funny, and smart, and determined, and so beautiful it makes his heart hurt, sometimes. 

 

He looks up at her, now fully watching the movie that she's got the lesson plan done, still idly playing with his hair.

 

"You're doing it again," she says, teasing, still looking at the screen.

 

"What?"

 

"Staring. I always wonder if there's something on my face whenever you do this." She looks down at him, and he smiles.

 

"Just the stars in your eyes."

 

She cracks up. "That is, by far the corniest thing you've ever said."

 

"It's true, though."

 

"Mmhmm, okay. Hey, so what were you thinking about? You looked like a bomb could go off and you wouldn't even notice.”

 

Coincidentally, the ' _Mawwiage, that bwessed awwangement'_ scene comes on at that exact moment, and Chase feels his face get very hot. She raises an eyebrow at him, but then it seems to dawn on her as she looks back to the screen.

 

"Oh," she says, voice soft, and her face is bright pink all the way down to her neck. "If it....................if it makes you feel any better, I...............I think about that stuff, too, sometimes."

 

"Yeah?"

 

"Yeah, Chase."

 

~~~~~

 

It's the next day, and she's the first up, not counting Old Lace, who's wandering in circles around the kitchen as she sings along to love songs on the radio, and she is inexplicably giddy. Well, not inexplicably. It is Valentine's Day, after all, and while it's a stupid consumerist holiday and you shouldn't need one specific day of the year to tell your significant other you love them, she's also dating someone on Valentine's Day for the first time ever (and coincidentally dating someone period for the first time ever) and she made Chase something she really thinks he's going to like, so she's allowed to be jovial.

 

"It's Valentine's Day here at the Runaways Hostel, and for the first time, ever, in her entire life, Gert Yorkes isn't miserable and bitter!" Molly says in a radio announcers voice as she enters the kitchen, and Gert scowls at her. "Could this possibly have anything to do with the fact that she finally isn't single for the holiday? Only time will tell! Tune into-"

 

"Can it, Molly, I'm in a good mood, please don't ruin it." Molly sticks out her tongue, then leans against the counter to steal a piece of chopped up chocolate bar out of the pancake batter, which, gross, but whatever.

 

"Okay, okay. So, what did you get for Chase?" Molly says, wiggling her shoulders, and Gert laughs as she pours the batter into the pan.

 

"Actually, I made him something. I think he's really gonna like it."

 

"Who's gonna like what?" Chase asks as he walks into the kitchen, already dressed and ready for the day.

 

"Nothing, baby," she sees Molly screw her face up in disgust at the pet name. She reaches up and pecks him on the lips, to which Molly makes a gagging sound. "Happy love day."

 

"Oh, so you're celebrating it now, huh?" He teases, lightly wrapping his arms around her waist. Molly sighs in disgust and starts tending to the pancakes, singing under her breath, _"Cinderelly, Cinderelly, night and day it's Cinderelly."_

 

"When have I not?" She says innocently, to which he laughs.

 

"Uh, honey, literally every year before this one you'd start out the day with how much Valentine's Day sucks and it's just another holiday created by capitalism to sell candy and cards."

 

"Well, I mean, that's still true and everything, but..........it's different this year." Her hands settle against his chest, and she bites her lip.

 

"Yeah?"

 

"Okay, you guys are being gross, I'm going to my room, tell me when breakfast is ready." Molly stomps out of the kitchen, and Gert and Chase look at each other, and start laughing.

 

She rests her head against his chest, and he smoothes a hand over her hair. "I should really get back to those pancakes so they don't burn."  
  
He sighs but lets her go so she can get back to making sure they don't cause a fire, but he doesn't stay away for long. He wraps his arms lazily around her waist and drops his chin to her shoulder. "Hey, do you remember that time when we first got together when you were making pancakes? And we got distracted and they burst into flame?"

 

 _"Distracted?_ Is that what they're calling it now?" He laughs into her shoulder, then presses a kiss to her cheek.

 

"By the way," he says after a while, "you look really good today."

 

She tries not to blush as she deflects. "You say that all the time, though."

 

"Yeah, because you look good all the time, but especially today."

 

She's doesn't see what the big deal is. She's just wearing jeans and a pink tank top, with a too big white dress shirt unbuttoned over it- oh. She's wearing his shirt.

 

"You think so?" She flips a pancake, smiling triumphantly when it goes well, for once. Chase should really be doing this, he's way better at it.

 

"I know so, honey."

 

They chat quietly as she finishes the pancakes, Chase's arms still wrapped around her, and everything is quiet and calm until Alex, Karolina, and Nico come stumbling into the kitchen, Nico and Alex already half-heartedly arguing about something stupid.

 

"Guys, it is way too earlier for dumb arguments, give it a fucking rest. Alex, go tell Molly breakfast is ready." She leans back against Chase as she finishes putting the pancakes on the plate, saying, "It's only the morning and already they're making me tired." He huffs out a laugh, taking her hand and squeezing it, then letting go.

 

She pulls away from him to bring the pancakes over to the island, and they sit down across from Nico and Karolina, who are talking closely about something, though they're practically whispering, so she can't tell what.

 

They eat quietly, Alex and Molly joining them after a minute, and Gert is surprised to find that, for once, she didn't fuck up the pancakes! She's pretty good with every other meal, but breakfast foods just aren't her forte. There's a reason she always used to have smoothies every morning before all this happened.

 

Later, after everyone's split off again, she disappears for a while to put the finishing touches on Chase's gift. She knows, objectively, that Valentine's Day is a dumb holiday, and she shouldn't need an excuse to give Chase a present, in fact, they do that all the time, giving each other little stuff they thought the other would like. But Valentine's Day is, like, the one day out of the year you can be as cheesy as you like and no one can say shit to you about it, so she's going to take the opportunity while it's there, thanks.

 

When she leaves their room, she wraps it in a bag and puts it in the nightstand for safe keeping. After that, weirdly enough, she barely sees Chase the whole day. First, the girls rope her into painting their nails together, watching a silly rom-com and chatting, then Alex enlists her in 'helping' him with repairs to the notoriously faulty oven, which mostly consists of her handing him the tools he need every so often. It's boring, but it gives her nails a chance to really, truly dry, so she can't be too mad. Well, not at Alex. Chase, who she hasn't seen since this morning on literal, actual Valentine's Day, she's a little mad at.

 

Until around suppertime, when she's sitting in the living room reading, Old Lace at her feet, and he walks into the room. Gert can't help it, she melts. He's got this look on his face, happy and excited, and suddenly she can feel the anger bleed out of her. This love stuff sure is a debilitater, huh?

 

She stands, putting down the book and walking over to him. "Hey, baby," she says softly, loosely wrapping her arms around his neck, "where you been all day?"

 

"Oh, you know," he says vaguely, and she snorts. "Hey, come with me, I wanna show you something."

 

"Hmm, I don't know," she teases, "you gonna tell me what it is?"

 

"You'll see."  
 

She mumbles something about how ominous that sounds as he gently pulls her down the hallway, leaving Old Lace to her nap, and he laughs.

 

"Okay, okay, close your eyes." He says when they get near their room, and she turns around to give him a look. "Just do it, okay?"

 

She shuts her eyes, and he leads her by the shoulders, opening the door to their room and walking her inside, closing it behind them.

 

"Okay, you can..........you can open her eyes now."

 

Gert does so, and, "Woah."

 

The floor is covered with an old quilt, laid out like a picnic blanket, with a basket in the middle that surely has dinner inside. Small tea lights are placed anywhere he could fit them, giving the room a romantic glow. There's love songs playing softly on the portable radio, and fuck, Gert thinks she's going to cry.

 

"Um, so, I know because of the circumstances we can't go on a real date, so....................I made one. I hope you like it, Gert."

 

Gert turns and wraps her arms around him, pressing her face into his chest to hide how wet her eyes are. "I love it. I love it so much, holy shit."

 

"Yeah?" He sounds kind of proud of himself, and she laughs wetly.

 

"This is like, one of the most romantic things to ever happen to me, so I'd say so, yeah."

 

She looks up at him, and he's got this soft look on his face, fond and full of love, and it occurs to her that no one's ever looked at her like that before. It's kind of making her feel things. "So, what's for dinner?"

 

They go and sit down, Chase opening up the basket and taking out the food as he dramatically retells the story of him and Molly making dinner, which involves an insane amount of weird shit happening, including but not limited to: tripping over Old Lace, Molly cracking an egg over his head, the mac and cheese catching on fire at one point, and Molly just barely saving the bottle of wine from smashing on the ground (he assured her that the wine hadn't been that expensive, because 'I know that you worry about that sometimes').

 

He pours the wine into the wine glasses that had spent twenty years wrapped up in a cardboard box gathering dust before they came, and they clink glasses.

 

"Wow, we're like, total adults right now. Drinking wine, having a romantic picnic......" she jokes, and he laughs, ducking his head.

 

"Yeah, and the stress, and money troubles, and- wait. Happy topics. Sorry." His lips purse, and his eyebrows scrunch together like they always do when he's mad at himself.

 

She reaches over and smoothes her thumb over the crease, and Chase’s eyes fall closed as he relaxes. "You don't have to be sorry, I understand. Is that something you're worrying about a lot?"

 

His shoulders come up to his ears in discomfort. "I don't know. Sometimes, I feel like there's this big weight on my shoulders, like every little thing that could go wrong is piling up there. Sorry, I know this is stupid, I just..........." He looks off to the side, and Gert puts to fingers to his jaw to make him look at her again.

 

"One of these days I'm going to fight your father for making you feel like every emotion you have isn't to be taken seriously." She cups his cheek with her hand, and he leans into it. "And Chase, baby, I absolutely understand that feeling, okay? I feel that way all the time. You don't have to apologize."

 

He nods, wiping at his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, you're right. Okay, um, different topic so we don't turn Valentine's Day into a sob fest." She laughs a little, and they turn back to the meal.

 

Once they finish the mac and cheese, which is deadly, by the way, thank you Molly (she knows that Chase probably did most of the work for this and she really loves him for it, but this food definitely has Molly's magic touch), Chase opens up another container, one that's full to the brim with chocolate chip cookies.

 

She grabs one and takes a bite, moaning at how good it is. Fuck, she's missed homemade cookies. When she looks at Chase to thank him, his cheeks are bright red, and she puts the cookie down to cover her mouth as she laughs.

 

"You're such an open book. I can tell exactly what you're thinking." She says, leaning close.

 

"Oh? And what am I thinking, miss telepath?"

 

She wiggles her shoulders a little as she says in a very shitty imitation of his voice, "Ooh, remember the last time she made that sound?"

 

"I do not sound like that!"

 

"Maybe not, but I'm still right."

 

"Perhaps." His eyes are so pretty, she's always thought so. Long lashes, golden brown colour, what's not to love?

 

"Perhaps, huh?" She leans in and kisses him lazily, setting her glass on the nightstand, and Chase pulls her closer with a hand on her hip. His other hand goes to her hair, and they stay like that for a while until it starts to take a turn and she pulls back.

 

"Wait, wait, okay, I did, actually, make you something, and I don't want us to get caught up and forget about it, one second." She's still catching her breath as she pulls away from him, pulling the bag out from the nightstand.

 

"So," she says, handing it to him, "I know you've been saying lately that your feet get really cold at night, and they definitely do, based on how many times you've woken me up when they touch my legs, and I bought some more yarn a while ago, so........Happy Valentine's Day."

 

It's socks. She knit him socks. Only now, as he's holding them up with an unreadable expression on his face, does she realize how stupid that was. Fuck.

 

But then he smiles. "I love them, and I know you're gonna think I'm bullshitting from the look on your face, but seriously, thank you. This is really thoughtful of you." He's looking at her all soft and fond, and the butterflies in her stomach start to flutter.

 

"Yeah, well, um," she tucks a piece of hair behind her ear, and says, "I'm glad you like them."

 

He takes her hand and squeezes. "I do like them."

 

After a second, she takes a sip of wine to steel herself and says, "Hey, can I ask you something?"

 

"Shoot."

 

"Do you want to have sex?"

 

Chase chokes on air and starts coughing, and she _thumps_ him hard on the back to stop it.

 

"Jesus, you could've just said no!"  
 

"No, no, no, no, I wasn't going to say no, you just surprised me."

 

"Oh. Okay, cool. I'd kind of gotten some hints that you weren't ready, but that is something I want, and I wanted to know if that's something you...........also........want." She sounds like she's reading off the pages of one of her mother's healthy couples counselling self help books. Gert had never seen her even touch them, and suspects they were a gift at one point from someone who didn't know her parents very well. They may be murderers, but unfortunately, they have a very healthy relationship.

 

"Well........I do have some, um, insecurities? But. I definitely do want to...........do that." Chase gulps, and his cheeks are bright red.

 

"What kind of insecurities?" She leans in, putting her hand on his arm. She puts the glass of wine on the nightstand, and Chase does the same.

 

"Just stupid stuff." He wrinkles his nose.

 

"It's not stupid. Not if it's worrying you." What is it with her and sounding like the therapist she had in tenth grade?

 

"I just, um. See, I've been having this dream. And it's me, and you, and we're, um, well, we're making out, right? And then we go to have sex and you crack up, just won't stop laughing at me, and I know you'd never do that, I just-"

 

"Can't get the image out of your head?" Boy, does she know how that feels.

 

"Yeah, that."

 

"Well, I swear I won't laugh." She rests her other hand on his chest, and for a moment they just stare at each other.

 

"Promise?" His voice is low, and a smile pulls at the corner of his mouth.

 

"Cross my heart and hope to die. Also, I bought condoms on the last supplies trip I was on, so if you wanna go right now, I'm good with that." He huffs out a laugh, and she says indignantly, "Hey, you can't say you're scared of me laughing and then laugh at _me,_ that's not how that works." She's kidding, well, sort of.

 

"Sorry."

 

"You don't sound very sorry." Her voice drops to a whisper, and she leans in hesitantly to kiss him. It starts slow, but escalates when he pulls her a little roughly into his lap, and she adjusts to straddle him. His hands go to her back, creeping under the over-shirt and then her tank top, pressing into her skin. She sighs into his mouth, running her fingers through his hair, then slipping her hands down his chest and under his shirt, splaying them across his abs. Even with their situation, he still finds the time and space to work out, and it definitely shows.

 

Chase pulls back for a second to pull off his shirt, and she whines. He kisses her again, and pulls her closer in his lap until his bare chest presses against hers, and why is she wearing any sort of top, again?  
 

She pulls off the dress shirt quickly, mouth still moving against his, and then all she's wearing is jeans and a tank top that's a little bit too tight, and Chase's hand slides up her stomach and over her breast, squeezing a little over her shirt. She moans into his mouth and curls her fingers at the nape of his neck, her other hand scrabbling against his chest.

 

He shifts, and his foot hits the empty basket, knocking it over. The sound jars Gert away from his lips, and she says breathily, "In the interest of not causing a mess, we should probably move to the bed."

 

He nods really fast, and it occurs to her how dilated his eyes are. She stands, and her legs are kind of shaky, so she grabs onto the nightstand for a second to steady herself.

 

Chase looks up at her, but he doesn't stand. Instead, he gets on his knees in front of her, his hands going to her jean clad thighs, and _oh_. Okay, fucking awesome, she's into this.

 

"Can I?" He asks, tone reverent, and she's already nodding.

 

"Hell yes."

 

He undoes the button of her jeans and unzips them, sliding them down her legs, and the ghosting of his fingers against her skin makes her shiver. He presses a kiss to her hipbone, then hooks his fingers into her panties and gently pulls them down, letting them fall.

 

Chase puts his mouth on her, his hands firmly gripping her hips, and she can't stop herself from moaning. One hand curls into his hair and the other digs into his shoulder as he eats her out, and she's probably being too loud, but she doesn't care.

 

He dips his tongue inside of her and swirls it, and her hand tightens in his hair. Gert's legs are so shaky right now, it's a wonder she hasn't fallen over.

 

"Oh, just like that, fuck," she breathes, because she's a total rambler, and Chase moans against her, sending vibrations up her body. He zigzags his tongue over her clit repeatedly, then presses down on it, and all she can do is make a whimpering noise that she'd probably be embarrassed about if this were any other time as she comes.

 

Her nails dig into his shoulder as she comes down from the high, and she says hoarsely, "Okay, you can, fuck, you can stop now."

 

He pulls back and looks up at her, giving her a sharp smile, and fuck, he's hot.

 

He wipes his mouth on his arm then starts moving his hands absently up and down her thighs as he asks hoarsely, "Do you still want to?"

 

"Uh-huh, yep, definitely," she says breathily, probably too eager, but she doesn't care. "Bed?"

 

He nods super fast, and it occurs to her that she's not the only one who's eager.

 

They move to the bed, Gert's legs thrown over his as she presses her mouth to his again, and his hands slide under her shirt, undoing her bra. She pulls away for a second to tug her shirt off, then slides her bra the rest of the way down her arms. Chase stares for a second, blinking hard like he can't believe what he's seeing, which is kind of funny considering he has definitely seen her breasts before. But she won't laugh. She promised.

 

He kisses her again, one hand going to her bare waist and the other palming her breast as he slips his tongue into her mouth. She realizes that she's only naked one here, and that's just not fair, is it, so she reaches over and undoes the button of his jeans and unzips the zipper. Chase pulls away for a second to frantically pull them down his legs and kick them off, taking his boxers with them, and _oh_.

 

It's only just hitting her that they're about to have sex for the second time _ever_ , and she's not nervous, she's not, because she loves Chase and she trusts him, but he must notice something's up because he asks, "Do you want to stop?"

 

She could say yes. She could put all this on pause right now just because she got a little bit nervous, but that would mean she might have to wait another month and she just can't do that. She trusts him, and she trusts that this is going to be good. It was good last time, _so good,_ so Gert is hoping for a repeat.

 

"No. Do you?" She raises an eyebrow, and he shakes his head so hard a carefully styled lock of hair falls out of place. She reaches up and fixes it for him, just because she can.

 

Gert leans in and kisses him again, climbing into his lap and straddling him, his hands slowly sliding up her thighs until they reach her ass, squeezing a little. She moans into his mouth, then slides her hand down, down, down his chest until she reaches his dick and wraps her hand around it, moving up and down slowly, and he makes this little choked noise that she's probably going to be hearing for weeks.

 

She reaches her other hand out blindly to the first drawer of the nightstand, pulling it open and rooting around for a condom because multitasking, hell yeah. She moves her hand a little faster around him, and he presses his face into her shoulder. She finds a condom, finally, and stops moving her hand so she can present it to him.

 

"Still," his voice cracks, "still good?"

 

"Yeah, baby. Thanks for checking in, though. You?" He nods quickly, and she takes her hand off him so he can open the package and slip the condom on. His hands shake a little, so she helps him with it, and she sees his eyes dilate even more in the light of the candles spread across the room. Chase is so fucking beautiful.

 

She gets up on her knees instead of sitting in his lap so she can slowly sink down onto him, and holy fuck, that's possibly the best feeling in the world. She starts moving up and down at a slow pace, her fingers digging into his chest.

 

He presses his mouth to hers, and it turns feverish as Chase starts to thrust up inside of her, his hands digging into her hips. They start up a faster pace, and she really just can't handle both at once right now, so she pulls away from the kiss and presses her face into his neck as she bounces in his lap, making way too much noise but not caring.

 

They keep it like that for a good while, and it's so fantastic, but made even better when Chase slips his hand down and starts rubbing at her clit, and her fingernails dig into his skin in a way that is definitely going to leave marks in the morning, whoops. 

 

She swirls around him a little, and he moans, burying his face in her neck as he thrusts up into her at a more frantic pace, and, "Holy fucking shit, don't stop, _don't stop_ , oh my god," her voice is breathless and high pitched, and Chase starts pressing kisses to her neck as he keeps it up, still circling his fingers around her clit, and she's just on the edge of coming when she pulls off him almost completely and then slams down again just as he thrusts up inside of her, and that's it. She's there.

 

She keeps riding him for a little bit, slower as she comes down from the high, and she knows he comes when he sucks in a breath and bites down on her shoulder. She stops moving and pulls off him, catching her breath, and Chase presses a kiss to her shoulder where he just bit down as if to soothe it.

 

Gert gets off of him and rests her head against the wall so he can throw out the condom, still trying to get some fucking air in her lungs. Once he tosses it, she curls back against Chase, resting her head on his shoulder as he wraps an arm around her waist. She still feels kind of floaty.

 

"Is it just me, or are we like, really good at sex?" She says sleepily, and he smiles, pressing a kiss to her forehead.

 

"Nope, not just you. That was.............."

 

"Transcendent. Mind-blowing. About a dozen other synonyms for 'fucking fantastic'."

 

"What, so I rocked your world?" he teases, and she flicks his chest, yawning.

 

"Yep."

 

He laughs a little, and Gert still maintains that it's the best sound in the world.

 

He kisses her lazily, and she smiles into it. "I love you," Chase says when he pulls back, and she rests her head on his chest, taking his hand in hers and fiddling with his fingers.

 

"I love you, too."

 

~~~~~

 

Chase is drunk.

 

He and Gert managed to hide away the wine from a few days ago, and everyone else is in the common room watching a movie, so he and Gert are holed up in their room half-assedly playing cards and finishing off the bottle. They should probably be using glasses, but instead they're just sipping straight from it, because whatever, right? It's not like they don't make out all the time, anyways, so it's not gross.

 

"Hey, hey, do you ever wonder what it'd be like to fly?" Gert is kind of a spacey drunk. It's cute. Well, everything about her is cute. And beautiful, and amazing, and fantastic.

 

"What, like, in a plane?" The cards lay forgotten in front of them.

 

"No, silly, like actually fly. Like Karolina, or Superman."

 

He cracks up. "You think of Karolina before Superman?"

 

"I mean, yeah, Karolina's my bestie, and all Superman did was...........wait, that's not fair he saved the world. Like, twice, at least. And there's a whole thing about him being a Jewish icon, which," she pauses to hiccup, "is super interesting and I will tell you all about it when I'm sober."

 

"I am counting down the minutes." She leans into him, and he puts his arm around her shoulders. She's warm.

 

"Do you think Molly's gonna be mad at us for missing movie night?" Chase loves being an 'us'. He's never gonna get sick of hearing it.

 

"I dunno, maybe. Worth it, though."

 

"Hmm, I don't know........" she jokes, scrunching up her nose at him, and all he wants to do is kiss her all over her face. Wait, he can do that now!

 

He presses a kiss to her forehead, then her eyebrow, then her cheek, then the tip of her nose, and she giggles. It's the best sound in the world.

 

"I love you so much, you know that?" He presses a kiss to her other cheek, and she giggles again.

 

"You're such a sappy drunk. I love you too, you big dope." Gert gives him one of her perfect, warm smiles- though, to be fair, all of them are perfect. Everything about Gert is perfect, actually.

 

She reaches up and runs her fingers over the sides of his hair. "You need a haircut. You're starting to look fourteen again."

 

"Uh, no I'm not."

 

"Yeah, you are." Her tone changes to something soft and nostalgic as she continues to run her fingers through his hair, and his eyes fall closed. "Reminds me of............reminds of before everything got complicated, when we'd go get ice cream together, just the two of us, and we'd argue about dumb stuff over sundaes, and I'd pretend I wasn't flirting, even though I totally was. And......and you'd give me bites of your ice cream, whining that if I wanted that flavour I should've bought it instead."

 

"I didn't actually care. Probably would've given you the whole bowl if you'd asked. I was just," he pauses to yawn, "I was just trying my best to flirt even though I sucked at it." He's sleepy.

 

"You didn't always suck at it. Remember that time we were stargazing for our astronomy project and you kept spewing cheesy space related puns? That was good flirting, at least to me, anyways. Even if you spent the rest of that time, like, completely ignoring me to sext Eiffel."

 

His eyes snap open. "Uh, you and I remember that very differently."

 

Gert's eyebrows scrunch together. "What? No, we don't."

 

"Yes, we do, I didn't send Eiffel one text that entire project." In fact, he's pretty sure Eiffel didn't even cross his mind at any point during that project, actually.

 

"Pfft, yeah, you did, why else would you be on your phone the whole time?"

 

"Oh. Ohh, I get it now. I wasn't on my phone." He smiles lopsidedly at the memory.

 

"Then what were you doing?"

 

"Staring at you. But I had to pretend I wasn't, right, because you'd get creeped out, so I pretended to be looking at my phone. If I did say I was sexting Eiffel it was definitely to make you jealous."

 

"Huh. Okay." She says, then takes his face in her hands and kisses him. It's sloppy, of course- they're drunk. But it's still really, really good and exactly what his wonked brain needs right now.

 

Gert slips her tongue into his mouth, and he moans, his hands moving to her waist. They start creeping their way under her shirt, and she pulls back, just a little, resting her forehead against his.

 

"We're, um, we're kind of too drunk for this." Gert's eyes are so pretty.

 

"Or," Chase says, pecking her on the lips, and she laughs.

 

"Yeah, or," she pulls him in again, and they make out lazily until Gert realizes how late it is.

 

They get ready for bed, then snuggle in, Chase wrapping him arms around her. She's warm, and she smells so good, and possibly the best girl in the world.

 

"Thanks," Gert says quietly, and, oh, he said that out loud?

 

"I didn't mean to say that out loud. But it's still true, though."

 

"Yeah, yeah." She yawns, and tangles their fingers together from where his hand rests on her stomach. "Goodnight, baby."

 

"Goodnight."

 

~~~~~

 

Gert can't sleep. She doesn't know why she can't just fall asleep, she's been getting a good nine hours the past few nights. Although, last night might have been because of the alcohol. And the night of Valentine's Day...................well.

 

She stares up at the crack in the ceiling, imagining what'll happen if it starts to spread. Well, probably when. When it starts to spread. Because that's the thing, isn't it, that this whole house is under a huge pile of rocks and one day they're going to crash down, taking all of them with it. Molly might survive, Karolina possibly if she can get out in time, but the rest of them? Dead as doornails.

 

The idea of dying didn't used to scare her so much. Sometimes she'd get these random bursts of 'what if I walked into traffic right now' or 'why don't I just jump off this 20 foot ledge' because, really, not many people would have missed her. Her parents, and Molly, maybe, but it wouldn't be too bad, she'd reason. But Gert would always talk herself out of it, because she didn't actually want to die. She just wanted to not exist anymore.

 

But now, she feels like she's got stuff to stick around for. She's got a family, she's got a sister, she's got a boyfriend. And, besides, she wants to see her parents sorry asses in jail before she goes out.

 

Although, she doesn't know if that's ever going to actually happen. Her parents have been doing this murder cult bullshit for, what, a decade and a half, now? More? So it's highly likely that they will continue to do whatever evil shit they're doing, and they have no way to stop them.

 

Her eyes well up. For all the shit she says about accepting the truth about their parents and how it's okay to want them back, she still hates herself for missing them. Every time she messes up, or her and Chase get in a fight, or Molly accidentally calls her 'Mom'- it's happened a few times now, and she still doesn't know how to feel about it- she just wants to be able to talk to her parents again, she just wants a hug, she just wants, wants, wants.

 

She sits up in bed and rests the back of her head against the wall. Chase readjusts in sleep, curling up and resting his head on her thighs, pressing his face into her pyjama pants.

 

Fuck, she loves him so much. She doesn't know how she's going to handle it when he realizes how much better he could do. Chase is kind, and loving, and smart, and way too good for her. She's lucky she's even getting this. A tear slips down her cheek just thinking about it.

 

She runs a hand over his soft hair, and, wow, he really does need a haircut. They all need haircuts, actually. And Gert needs hair dye. Well, she doesn't need it. She wants it. And, to be honest, they probably shouldn't be catering to 'wants'. They only have so much money.

 

"Babe? Why are you up?" Chase asks groggily, and her hand stills in his hair.

 

"Uh, I'm not, actually, you're just dreaming. Go back to sleep." She doesn't want to bother him with this. She's just being stupid.

 

"How could I go back to sleep if I'm already dreaming?" He asks, sitting up. "Oh, are you okay?"

 

She squeezes her eyes shut, but the tears start rolling anyways, and he wraps his arms around her. She presses her face into his shoulder, and big, hiccupy sobs erupt from her out of nowhere. Fuck, she hates crying.

 

Chase holds her tight, rocking her back and forth and rubbing his hand up and down her back.

 

"It's okay, it's okay, I've got you," he says to comfort her, pressing a kiss to the side of her neck.

 

It takes a long time for her to calm down, this time. She doesn't know why. And she'd been so.........so normal, lately. And she knows normal is relative, and what she really means is that she hasn't had an attack in about a week, but still.

 

"It's not okay, though, nothing is ever going to be _okay_ , this house is going to crash down on us, and I'm never gonna be able to hug my mom again, and one of these days you're gonna break up with me, nothing is okay, Chase-"

 

"What did I say to make you think I would ever do that so I know to never ever say it again, because that is so not true." She scoffs wetly, and he holds her tighter. "No, Gert, seriously, I'm not going to break up with you. Ever. I'm absolutely, irrevocably in love with you, and I'm never going to change my mind, or- or some other bullshit that you come up with, it's just not going to happen. And I don't know why you still think that, like, honestly, haven't I shown you how much I care about you?" Oh, no, she's made him upset.

 

"It's not.........it's not on you. It's just me being stupid again, I guess. It's like there's this- this- Jesus, I don't know. It's like.........it's like I'm holding my breath, just waiting for the worst possible scenario, and I can't tell myself to breathe because my brain doesn't _work_ that way. And, like, objectively, I know that you love me. But there's always some- some _thing_ in the back of my brain shouting that everything is going to go wrong and it's going to be all my fault."

 

He sighs, rubbing his hand up and down her back. "Nothing's going to go wrong, okay? Me and you, we're- we're fucking destined, or some shit." She laughs a little, and he says, "No, seriously."

 

She presses a kiss to the side of his neck and says quietly, "I love you."

 

"I love you, too."

 

"You're a lot better at this romance stuff than me. I don't think I could be romantic to save my life."

 

"Nah, you can, it just comes out differently. And besides, I like your way better. Think I'd probably combust if you were as sappy as I am half the time." He's still holding her in his arms, but it's calmer now. They're not hugging because she needs the support, just because they want to.

 

"Dude, I'm over here actually internally combusting whenever you're all lovey-dovey, so....." He laughs. Gert still thinks it's the best sound in the world.

 

They stay like that for a while, and she breathes him in, pressing her face into his shoulder. "Thanks for calming me down, Chase."

 

"Anytime, love. And with the other stuff, too......I think we can figure out a way to keep the house more supported. It'll take some time, but we'll figure it out. Maybe support beams? Hm. And with your mom....................I know that, um, I don't fully understand it, because my relationship with my parents is a lot more complicated than yours, but I'll be here whenever you want a hug. And I know it isn't the same, but I am. And so is Molly, and everyone else."

 

"Yeah, I know." She yawns. "Jesus, I'm tired. One of the many cons to un-medicated mental illness, huh?" As much as she argues against it, she does wish she had her meds. If only there was a way to get them without any risks involved.

 

Chase pauses. "Yeah. One of many."

 

~~~~~

 

Gert needs her meds. He's been saying it since they left, it's even been the cause of a few fights, but last night really was the clincher. He just can't watch her torture herself anymore if he knows there's something that could help it.

 

He's had a plan since they settled here to go and get them. There's a pharmacy in a small town about a half hour from here, and he stole a doctors prescription pad one time in a town a few hours away just because the place was empty and he could get away with it about two weeks ago, and Gert's already told him her prescription- he's pretty sure she didn't mean to, it was late and she was rambling, but what's important is that he has it, which means he can write it in and get it filled at the pharmacy. Maybe. If it works out. God, he hopes it works out.

 

Chase looks at the clock. Seven AM. Karolina is probably up by now, but she won't come out for another half hour unless prompted.

 

He carefully gets out of bed, doing his level best not to wake Gert. He gets dressed, pulling on something nondescript and unnoticeable, not even bothering to do anything with his hair as he turns to leave.

 

He looks back at Gert's sleeping form, and knows what she would say about him doing this. 'Harebrained, stupid, unimportant, likely to get us caught', are all contenders for the lecture he's going to get when he gets back, but he just can't let her go on like this if he knows there's something available to help her.

 

He sighs, then opens the door, stepping out as quietly as possible and closing it behind him, wincing at the creak. He tiptoes down the hallway and to the front door, pulling on his shoes. He is so, so lucky that Old Lace didn't wake up. Or anyone else, for that matter.

 

"What are you doing?" Oh, shit, Molly.

 

"Uh. Nothing. Go back to sleep, Molls." He turns around from where he'd been facing the door and pulling on his shoes, and sees a very sleepy Molly in her pyjamas, clutching Elian in her hand. It strikes him how small she looks right now. For all she fights to be seen as mature, Molly is still so irrevocably _young_.

 

"Really? Because it doesn't look like nothing. Where are you going?"

 

"Nowhere, I just need some air, okay?" He's trying not to be too harsh here, but he's really afraid Molly is going to call for Karolina. Or worse, Gert.

 

"That's bull and we both know it. Where are you _really_ going, Chase?" She's got her arms crossed and that look in her eye that makes her look exactly like her sister, and Chase sighs. She's won.

 

"I'm.........I'm going to get Gert her meds. There's a pharmacy about a half hour from here, and I've got a forged doctor's note with her prescription."

 

"Oh. Take me with you."

 

"What? No, Molly, I can't."

 

"Take me with you or I'm calling for Gert." Chase is pretty sure she won't, actually, because she knows just as well as the rest of them how much her sister needs her medication, no matter how much Gert argues against it.

 

"No, Molly, please don't." He says, frantic anyways. "You know she needs her medication, and you know how badly she'd murder me if I took her little sister with me on a dangerous mission."

 

"So, what, you're just going to go alone? How is that better?"

 

He sighs. "I'm.......I'm not as important, okay? If I get caught, then it's fine. But you.........your powers.........I just can't put you in danger like that."

 

Molly screws her face up at him. "You're important too, Chase. Really important. But fine. Go alone. I won't tell anyone if you get back in under two hours."

 

"Thank you."

 

"Don't thank me, just get on the road already! Countdown starts now!" He nods at her and opens the door, slipping out through a carefully concealed to outsiders crack in the boulders.

 

He lifts the camouflage off the van and switches out the license plate with the careful rotation they've got going on, then gets in and starts it.

 

He takes a deep breath, then pulls out and starts driving. Time to get a move on.

 

The clock is ticking.

 

~~~~~

 

Gert wakes up without Chase. It's a little weird, since he usually waits for her to wake up before leaving the bedroom, but whatever. He'd mentioned yesterday that he wanted to keep working on the washer he's building so they don't have to hand wash their clothes anymore, so it's not too absurd.

 

What does strike her as a little odd is that his boots are still waiting by the door, and his hair products are untouched, so she doesn't have to screw the caps back on like she does every morning when he inevitably forgets. Hm.

 

She gets dressed and ready for the day, looking at the clock and seeing that it's only eight thirty. Damn. She should've remembered to look so she could get a bit more sleep.

 

She heads to the kitchen, greeting Karolina reading at the island as she starts a pot of coffee for herself, Nico, and Alex and the kettle for Chase. Karolina and Molly drink water and juice, respectively, which Gert truly doesn't understand. She's pretty sure she wouldn't be able to function without caffeine, especially with the night she's had.

 

Last night sucked. She hates when she gets like that, everything welling up inside of her until it starts pouring out in the language of tears and fierce insecurities.

 

"Watcha reading?" She asks Karolina.

 

"One of Alex's YA romance novels. Gosh, I don't know how he stomachs these things, they're so unnecessarily heterosexual." Gert snorts. She's right, of course. The YA genre is often too hetero for it's own good, she knows because she's the one who got Alex hooked on those things. 14 year old Gert was a romantic, okay?

 

"Oh, true."

 

Gert taps her fingers against the counter until the coffee's ready, then pours herself a mug. Once the kettle is boiled, she pours the hot water in a mug for Chase with a chai teabag, getting out the cream and sugar. She dumps about five spoonfuls of sugar into her own mug, then once Chase's is steeped pours in the equivalent of a double double. She starts sipping at her coffee, waiting for him to come out of his tech project induced hidey hole, but after a half hour, her coffee is finished and Chase still isn't here, so she reheats the tea and goes to find him.

 

Except.........she can't find him. She looks in every room in the house, even the linen closet, for Christ's sakes, and her boyfriend is nowhere to b found. What, is he getting up and leaving a room as soon as he hears her coming?

 

"Hey, Molly, have you seen Chase?" She asks when she sees her sister in the living room. Molly's eyes go wide, and she checks her watch. Weird.

 

"Uh, no, I haven't! Sorry." Suspicious. Veeery suspicious.

 

"Uhh, okay. It's just weird, I haven't seen him since last night. I've checked every room in the house and.............................oh my god. He is in the house, right? He didn't...........he didn't leave?" That hadn't occurred to her. Where would he have gone if he did?

 

"Um." Molly looks weirdly guilty.

 

"Molly. Where is my boyfriend?" Gert puts the mug down and crosses her arms a she stares down at where her sister is sitting on the couch, pursing her mouth and glaring until Molly concedes.

 

"He, um, he........................he went to get your meds." WHAT THE _FUCK?_

 

"You're joking." She feels frozen in place. What was he thinking?

 

"No, um, he said there's a pharmacy about a half hour from here and that he stole a doctors notepad to write your prescription on- don't know where he got it. He said he'd be back within the next half hour, though, so at least he'll be......back.....soon.....?" 

 

Gert's hands start to shake as she sits down next to Molly. _What was he thinking what was he thinking what was he_ ** _thinking?_**

 

Well. She can guess what he was thinking. Last night she'd had an epicly major _freakout_ , and even said shit about their relationship that she should _not_ have said, she can definitely take a guess at what he was thinking.

 

She puts her head in her hands and blows out a breath. "Why did I fall in love with such an idiot?" It's rhetorical, but she hears Molly gasp.

 

"You're in love with him? Why didn't you tell me?"

 

She snorts. "I dunno, Molls, could it be that every time me and Chase do any sort of PDA you screw up your face?"

 

"Yeah, but that's because I'm.........I………….never mind." her voice takes on a weird tone, and if Gert were less worried over Chase she'd ask her about it. She mentally puts it on her to do list. "And anyways, I'm sure he's fine. Don't go worrying until there's need for it, okay?"

 

She gives her sister a look. "Have you _met_ me?"

 

"Okay, fair."

 

She spends the next hour and a half- which freaks her out even more because he was supposed to be _back_ by now- pacing a groove into the living room floor, practically tearing her hair with worry. One by one, the rest of the gang sans her fucking dumbass of a boyfriend file into the room, listening to her rant with thinly veiled worry. The reactions range from cautious agreement with his actions (Alex) to anger at him leaving with barely any plan (Nico) to not knowing how to feel (Karolina) and plain old guilt (Molly).

 

And, okay, objectively she knows that, if it goes well, this is a good thing. She’ll have her meds and her boyfriend back safe in her arms where he belongs. But she’s still so fucking _worried._

 

When she hears the front door creak open, she takes a deep  breath, and steps into the hallway.

 

"Oh. You're up." He looks kind of scared, which, okay, she doesn't ever want him to be scared of her, but just this once she feels like he should be because he just _ran off_ and freaked her the _hell_ out and- _fuck._

 

"Have been for the past two hours, not that you were here to know that. Why didn't you at least tell me you were going, Chase?" There's about five feet between them, and all Gert wants to do is close the distance, but she's just too angry.

 

"Would you have let me go?"

 

"No!"

 

He gestures and raises his eyebrows, like he's trying to say, _see?_

 

She sighs. "Are you okay? Were you followed?" She can't stop herself from closing the distance this time, gently reaching out and touching his arm.

 

He covers her hand with his own and says, "Yes, I'm fine, no, I wasn't followed. And I don't think I was recognized. That place was kind of a ghost town quarter filled with old people." He wrinkles his nose up, and it's as cute as it always is.

 

"You really scared me, Chase. I didn't know if you were okay, or if something had happened to you, you can't _do that_ to me, come on-" He pulls her in for a hug, wrapping his arms around her and holding tight. She presses her face into his chest and breathes him in.

 

"I'm so, so sorry for scaring you. But Gert, you need your meds. And I just...........it was so hard to watch you hurt like that if I knew there was a way to help. I didn't care if it was harebrained, or badly planned, I love you, and I didn't want to see you hurting if there was a way you didn't have to be. Or, less, at least. I know medication doesn't stop your anxiety completely, just helps it be a lot more manageable than it is right now. Speaking of," He sticks his hand in the pocket of his hoodie and pulls out a white paper bag. "Pill bottle for your thoughts?"

 

She laughs wetly, and takes it from him. "Thanks."

 

"Anytime."

 

Gert wraps her arms around his middle, and they stay there in silence for a while until she says, "I'm still mad at you."

 

"I know."

 

"Do you know why I'm mad, though?" She's pretty sure he doesn't understand her full reasoning.

 

"Because you think that anything that could help you are a waste of time if they're remotely dangerous because you don't hold yourself in as high regard as you should." Wow, way to reach deep into her soul and pull out a few telling truths, huh?

 

"Well.....yes, partly. But it's also because you went to do this alone without telling anyone but your little sister, which made her freak out internally from guilt, and left me here pulling my fucking hair out wondering if you were okay. You can't just up and leave without telling me, Chase, you're too important. To me, to your family, to the whole universe, as far as I'm concerned."

 

Chase takes a shaky breath, and she looks up at him and see that he's got a tear rolling down his cheek. "Woah, hey, don't cry, I'm not that mad, jeez," she reaches up and wipes at the tear with her thumb, and Chase laughs wetly, catching her hand and kissing her palm.

 

"No, it's not that, just, I, no one's really told me that before, you know? That I'm important. With my parents, and everything, obviously they were never very affectionate, and I just......"

 

She presses a soft kiss to his cheek. "Well, you are. Important, that is." He nods, then pulls her back into a hug and holding her tight. With Chase back in her arms, everything feels right again, and she feels calm.

 

~~~~~

 

Chase has decided that his girlfriend is definitely a dumbass. Like, he's stupid, but not as dumb as what she's doing right now, which is teetering on a pile of barely holding it together objects to reach something on the top shelf, which she's still too short for, so she's reaching and reaching and is definitely going to fall any second now.

 

He comes up behind her and says, "You know how bad an idea this is, right?"

 

He catches Gert by surprise, and she jumps, which is definitely not a wise decision, as it causes her precarious ladder to shift and collapse. She falls back as it starts to tumble, and he catches her in his arms.

 

"Thanks," she says, out of breath.

 

"No problem. Just make better decisions next time."

 

She sticks her tongue out at him, and he readjusts so he can cradle her properly. "In the moment it was a good plan." 

 

"And yet you almost got _another_ injury from falling just then, so.......” She reaches up and presses a kiss to his cheek, and he smiles as he asks fondly, “What was that for?”

 

“Nothing in particular. Would you put me down?”

 

He carries her over to the island and puts her down on top of it, and she laughs and gives him a look as she says, “I meant on the floor, Chase.”

 

“Yeah, but now I can do this,” he says, leaning in to kiss her. He cups her face in his hands as their mouths move against each other, and she hums. Her fingers curl into his hoodie to pull him closer, in between her open legs, and-

 

"Jesus fucking Christ, do you guys ever stop?" Alex says as he walks into the kitchen, and they pull apart, Gert's hands still tangled in his hoodie.

 

"Stop being a bitter old man, Alex," she says, and Chase snorts.

 

Alex spreads his arms wide in disbelief as he says, "I'm seventeen!"

 

"Yes, but in your soul you're a grandpa," Chase says, and Alex screws his face up at the two of them.

 

"Just for that, I'm enforcing the 'no making out in group spaces' rule. Get ready for three nights of sleeping with Molly, your highness." Gert wrinkles her nose up at that nickname. It weirds her out, she's told him, and neither of them know why it stuck.

 

"Ugh, fine." But then she looks to Chase and winks at him, and he has to swallow the laugh that threatens to bubble up. They both know that rule will be broken just about the minute Alex goes to sleep.

 

Alex grabs the bag of chips, then leaves, shaking his head in disgust, and Chase leans in and starts pressing kisses to her neck. She lets him for a second, then pushes him gently off of her with a, "Nuh-uh, I am not getting a week of sneaking around just because you couldn't keep it in your pants for five minutes."

 

"Sneaking around can be fun," he says, leaning in again, but she pokes him in the chest to keep him back.

 

"That's because sex can be more satisfying if it's forbidden in some way. I read a study on it." Her cheeks are flushed, and her hair is just a little messed up from before, and _fuck,_ she's hot.

 

"Oh, did you?" he asks, voice low as his hand starts to trail under her skirt, and Gert sucks in a breath. He starts to trace little designs into the inside of her thigh, and she shivers.

 

"Yeah, I, um, fuck, come here," she pulls him closer and kisses him roughly, and he laughs into it , his hands going to her hips as her arms wrap around his neck.

 

Gert pulls back for a second to say, "We should probably move somewhere more.....private." He nods really fast and helps her off the island, and they walk as fast as possible back to the bedroom. When they get there, he presses her up against the wall and kisses her, hands sliding down to her ass and squeezing. She makes a high pitched sound that's probably going to be playing on repeat in his brain for the next few days, desperate and needy. 

 

Gert's leg hitches up, and he curls his hand under it, then picks her up completely, her legs crossing behind his back, and it devolves from there. They make out until Molly calls them for supper, and Gert pulls back, resting the back of her head against the wall as she screws her face up.

 

"Damn. Was really hoping we'd get to.................." she doesn't finish the sentence, but Chase gets her meaning. He did, too.

 

"We could skip supper?" He knows she's not going to skip, but he's still asking.

 

Gert laughs and puts a hand to his neck, moving her thumb up and down absently. "You are such a teenage boy, we're not _skipping supper_. Food, nutrients, interaction with other people, all things we need if we want to be healthy human beings, come on, babe."

 

He screws up his face a little, but puts her down, and they walk to the kitchen hand in hand.

 

After they eat, Alex pulls him aside. "Hey, dude, you know that bag of valuables we've got? Do you remember where I put it?"

 

"Oh, you mean the bag of precious jewelry I stole from my mother that I gave to you for safe keeping and you said you were going to pawn? Right away? After I gave it to you? No, I don't. Wilder, how do you misplace something that important?" That one bag is probably worth about 20,000 dollars, and apparently Alex has just up and lost it, so that's cool.

 

The night they left, he'd waited until his mother was out of the house to raid her many jewelry boxes, stuffing what looked most expensive into the bag as quickly as he could and leaving, because go big or go home, right? He'd thought he was about to kick the bucket, so why not take his mother's sparkly, expensive bullshit out with him? About a day into officially being On The Run he'd handed it over to Alex to pawn, and that was it. Well, not really. There is one thing he kept, placed very secretly in the back of his sock drawer, but that's......different.

 

_"Oh, what about-"_

 

_"No, not that. Um, it was my Nana's." Chase said, snatching the ring back out of Alex's hands. It's vintage, obviously, his great-grandfather had bought it for his fiancé in 1931. His Nana had bequested it to him in her will when she died when he was eleven, making him promise to use it one day. To this day he still misses her._

 

_"Oh. Wait, isn't that a wedding ring?" Alex said, wiggling his eyebrows and looking pointedly to where Gert was driving, and Chase shoved him, causing him to burst out laughing._

 

_"Okay, okay, not the ring, now......."_

 

"I didn't misplace it! It's just temporarily out of my sight at the moment."

 

"So you misplaced it."

 

"Ugh, fine, I guess. And the reason it's not all pawned yet is I want to stretch it out over different shops and shit so we don't got caught." That only kind of makes sense, but okay, fine.

 

"Okay, so where did you last see it?"

 

"I don't know, that's why I was asking you!"

 

"Guys, would you stop with the fucking dick measuring contests? We get it, you're both strong, manly, men, okay?" Nico says as she passes by, and they both mutter their apologies.

 

"Okay," Chase starts again, trying for a gentler tone, "So where do you last remember it being?"

 

"I dunno, the van is as far back as I can go, but I've seen it since then, I just don't remember where. I think I had it in the kitchen at one point? Maybe?" His eyebrows scrunch together.

 

"Have you checked there?"  
 

"No."

 

"This is why Gert has a tally in our bedroom for how many times in a day we do something stupid."

 

Chase stalks off to the kitchen, Alex trailing behind him, and takes a cursory look around, already spotting the bag.

 

"It's up there," he says, pointing to the top of the cupboards.

 

"Ohh. I'm stupid."

 

"I know." Chase smirks, and Alex shoves him, causing them both to crack up as he lands on his ass. He reaches out a hand for some help up, and when Alex grabs it, pulls him down to the floor with him.

 

"Evil."

 

"Thank you."

 

~~~~~

 

“Holy shit, you are tight.” Chase says as he puts a hand on Gert’s shoulder, and just the touch of his fingers makes her hiss in pain. She woke up this morning with the worst kink in her shoulders, and it's the afternoon and she still hasn't been able to get rid of it.

 

She’s sitting in between his legs on the couch, working on a bracelet while they chat. It’s a nice position to be in, especially since it’s not a sexual kind of thing. They’re just sitting this way to be close to each other, and it’s giving Gert butterflies- the good kind.

 

“Oof, I know, it feels like I’ve got three planets resting on my shoulders.”

 

“Atlas reborn, huh?” She laughs, and he looks all proud of himself. It’s adorable.

 

Chase pauses, then says, “would you, maybe, want a shoulder rub?”

 

“Fuck, would you?” He nods, putting his hands on her shoulders and starting to dig in his thumbs in right where she’s got the most tension. She’s glad she decided to wear a tank top today, even if it is a bit skimpy. She’s pretty sure it’s Karolina’s, actually. Chase circles his fingers right where her left shoulder hits her neck, and she groans in pleasure.

 

“Where did you even,” Gert has to pause as his thumb sweeps across her tendon and she gasps, “learn how to do this?” She’s not very proud of how high her voice is right now, but she can’t bring herself to care.

 

“I dunno, I guess I’m just that good.” He says smugly, and it’s a bit dickish but a lot hot.

 

He hits just the right spot again, and she hums, murmuring, "Yeah, like that." He circles his fingers around the tight muscle, and she feels it start to loosen, and fuck, that feels good. Chase digs his thumbs in between her shoulder blades, and she makes this little high pitched sound that she'd be embarrassed about if she wasn't so relaxed. She's just now realizing that for the past two days, probably since Chase left the other morning, she hasn't let her body un-tense at all.

 

He goes lower, then digs his fingers into her skin as he drags them up her back, and she blows out a breath, blinking sleepily. She feels loose and languid as Chase continues to massage her shoulders, and she yawns.

 

"Someone's sleepy," he says softly as he circles his fingers around just the right spot in her shoulder, and she keens as she nods.

 

She yawns again, and it occurs to her how heavy her eyelids feel. She’ll close them, just for a second.

 

When she opens them again- well, when she wakes up, actually, Chase has got her in a bridal carry as he carries her back to their room. She could make this easier for him and properly wake up, but he’s so warm, and she’s so tired, so she’s good where she is, thanks. 

 

He sets her down on the bed and turns to leave, but she reaches out a hand. “Stay?”

 

“Okay, sweetheart.” He lies down next to her and wraps an arm around her middle, and she snuggles up against him. 

 

They nap together for a few hours until Karolina comes knocking on their door.

 

“Suppertime, sleepyheads. Come on, up and at ‘em,” she knocks on the open door to get them awake, and they begrudgingly get up, Gert still yawning as they sit down to eat. She’s pretty sure Chase didn’t actually sleep, from how refreshed and Actually Awake he looks. Unfair.

 

~~~~~

 

Later that night, Chase is reading in bed, waiting for Gert to finish Molly’s lesson plan in the living room. And waiting. And waiting. And waiting. After about an hour, when it’s almost twelve o’clock in the night, he gets up to drag her back to bed.

 

He lumbers out to the living room, but she’s not there, so he checks the kitchen next. Gert is standing at the island, gesturing to herself as she scribbles in her notebook way too fast for it to be anything but chicken scratch.

 

He drapes himself over her back and says, “Come to bed.”

 

Her hand reaches back and goes to his cheek, gently moving her thumb up and down. “In a minute, baby,” she writes something else down, and it is completely illegible. How is she reading it? And her handwriting is usually so nice, too.

 

Chase plucks the pen out of her hand and says, “No, now. You can’t even read this, come on, honey.”

 

“I can to read it!”

 

“Oh, yeah? What’s that say?” He reaches over her shoulder to point at a line of chicken scratch at the top of the page, and she sighs, making a reluctant ‘I dunno’ sound.

 

“Hm? What was that?”

 

“I don’t know, okay! I don’t know.”

 

He rubs his hands up her arms and presses a kiss to her cheek. “Come to bed.”

 

“Yeah, okay,” Gert turns around and lets him gently drag her to the bedroom, and when they get there she changes into her pyjamas and curls up with him. 

 

“I think I only didn’t go to bed before this because of that nap I took earlier,” Gert says sleepily from where her head is resting on his shoulder. She wraps an arm around his middle, and Chase places his hand over hers on his stomach.

 

“Yeah?”

 

She hums, then yawns again. “Goodnight, love.”

 

“Goodnight.”

 

Chase thinks he’d probably stay here forever, if he could. Wrapped up with Gert, he feels calm, and safe, and loved.

 

He feels at home. 

 

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> title is from Loving Is Easy by Rex Orange County. enjoy!!


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